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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

r%u — 

Chap. Copyright No. 

ShelL„\/l!.-L3 



UNiTED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Western Series of Readers 



Pacific Bistory Storks 

ARRANGED AND RETOLD FOR USE IN 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

^ BY 

HARR WAGNER, A. M. 



Westward the course of eynpire takes its way; 

The four first acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day: 

Timers noblest offspri7ig is the last. 

—Berkeley. 







^-'^'-'iXN 



VOLUME !. , ^^-- - - V? >^ 



/s^Joff)' 



i 



SAN FRANCISCO 
THE WHITAKER <fe RAY COMPANY 

(INCORPORATED) 

1896 



r26' 



Copyright, 1896, 

BY 

Harr Wagner. 



PREFACE. 

The voyages of discovery and notable events of the West 
Coast of America have not been accessible to the teacher and 
pupil. An honest attempt has been made by the writer to 
bring this knowledge to the schools in the form of an historical 
reader. The book is designed for the middle grades. The 
direct form of narrative has been observed ; clearness of state- 
ment, short words, and the human side of history have been 
made characteristic features. 

The stories of Balboa, Magellan, Cabrillo, Drake, the Dis- 
covery of Gold, the Bear-Flag Republic, and others are inter- 
esting on account of the human and heroic side of the 
adventures. Where is the boy whose vision will not be en- 
larged by the picturesque situation of Balboa — 
"Silent on a peak of Darien"? 

The aim has been to make this a school-book for the teach- 
ing of Western history. The-'mechanical forms of numbered 
paragraphs and formal questions have not been introduced, 
because the progressive teacher desires to avoid the stiffness of 
the average text-book. ^ - 

An effort has been made to teach history on the principle of 
correlation. For this purpose the geography of the West and 
Southwest Coast must be thoroughly studied. 

Myths, legends, and inaccurate descriptions have been 
avoided. Sufficient authorities and original documents have 
been consulted so that impartial statements could be made. 



4 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

On the pedagogical basis, that knowledge of the child should 
be builded on the foundation of facts that lie nearest to it, this 
book should have preference over the history stories of other 
lands. 

This book is the first volume in the "Western Series of 
Readers," for supplementary work. The second volume will 
contain "Pacific Science Stories." 

The story of Fremont and the account of "Old Califor- 
nians " were written by Joaquin Miller. 

Topics for school composition may be taken from the 
different stories. The pupil will not then be puzzled for ma- 
terial, and there will be plenty of opportunity for original 
suggestions and descriptive writing. 

Teachers will use different methods ; but all teachers who 
desire to be successful will use the blackboard, the globe, 
maps, and drill on new words. 

Permission to use the several poems by Bret Harte was 
kindly granted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 




DSr PREPARATION. 

Excellent results in reading may be obtained by teaching 
the geography and literature of an article before the child ia 
given the task of the interpretation of the thought. 

Exaynple— An outline map, showing the location of Spain, 
Hayti, Darien, and the point where Balboa took possession of 
the Pacific, should be drawn by the pupil. 

The story should not be read until the pupil has studied it, 
and has been drilled, and drilled, on the proper names and un- 
familiar words. 

The voyages of Magellan, Cabrillo, and Drake open up for 
the larger vision of the child the Southern Seas and the entire 
coast of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to the Golden Gate. It is 
a vision that begins with the child's experience and extends 
almost to endless space. The child's mind, in the fourth, fifth, 
sixth, and seventh grades, is especially susceptible to expan- 
sion. 

The "Pacific History Stobies" have the advantage of 
appealing more strongly to the pupil than a trip to the moon, 
because they are real, and the geography of the stories is more 
or less familiar. 

The teacher may develop the correlation of Geography, His- 
tory, and Literature in these stories. 

The historical information is valuable ; but the main pur- 
pose of the book is to place in the hands of the teacher a 
volume that will stimulate a desire in the pupil for historical 



b AVESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 

reading, accurate thinking, and form a basis for the human 
side of the history and geography of the West. 

The pictures in the book should be used to make more 
effective the text. The teacher should frequently refer to 
them, and have the pupils note the characteristic features of 
each one. Several of the pictures are from drawings of J. D. 
Strong, who was with Robert Louis Stevenson in the South 
Pacific Seas. 

The blackboard words, and even the reference topics, should 
be correctly written on the board, on paper or slate. The 
more definite the emphasis, the deeper the impression. 

Carlyle, in his advice to his nephew, said in reference to 
history : " Never read any such book without a map beside 
you ; endeavor to seek out every place the author names, and 
get a clear idea of the ground you are on ; without this you 
can never understand him, much less remember him. Mark 
the dates of the chief events and epochs ; write them ; get them 
fixed into your memory — chronology and geography are the 
two lamps of history." Harr Wagner. 




A KEY FOR PRONOUNCING WORDS OF SPANISH 
DERIVATION. 

A THOROUGH drill on the following sounds will be helpful. 
The children of the Pacific Coast are required to use many 
foreign words. In pronunciation of Spanish words — 

give a the sound of ah ; 

give e the sound of ay ; 

give i the sound of ee ; 

givei the sound of h ; 

give o the sound of oh ; 

give u the sound of oo ; 

h is silent ; 

II is sounded like lli in million ; 

n is sounded like ny in lanyard ; 

hua is sounded like wa in water. 



SOME NOTABLE VOYAGES. 

1492— Columbus discovers certain West Indian Islands. 

1497— Jolin Catiot discovers land in the vicinity of the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

1498— Vasco da Oama rounds the Cape of Good Hope. 

1499— Atnerigfo Vespucci discovers the northern coast 
of South America. 

1513— Balljoa discovers the Pacific Ocean. 

1513— Ponce de lycon discovers Florida. 

1519 — Cortez conquers Mexico. 

1519— ^agrellan sails for the East Indies. 

1531— Pizarro conquers Peru. 

1539— Hernando de Soto fits out his expedition. 

1540 — Coronado discovers the Colorado. 

1542— Catorillo sails along the Coast of California. 

i577~Sir Krancis Drake circumnavigates the globe. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Story of How Balboa Discovered the Pacific . 15 

By the Balboa Seas 24 

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer ... 25 

Magellan ; or, The First Voyage Round the World 26 

Cabrillo ^^ 

At San Diego Bay . 38 

The Story of Drake, the Brave Sailor ... 42 

The Story of the Missions 51 

The Angelus 59 

The First Ship to Enter the Golden Gate . . 61 

The Discovery of the Rocky Mountains ... 65 

The Story of the Donner Party 86 

The Bear-Flag Republic 101 

The American Flag in California J09 

The Discovery of Gold 113 

The Cocoa-Tree 119 

Who Named the Golden Gate? 120 

The Golden Gate 121 

The Story of Fremont 124 



10 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

How California Came into the Union . . . .132 
The Story of a Battle with the Indians . . . 136 

San Francisco 147 

Old Californians 150 

My New Year's Guests . . 155 

Appendix 163 

Who Named California? 165 

A Short List of Books of Reference . . .167 




ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Balboa Taking Possession of the Pacific Ocean, etc. . . Frontispiece 

In the Swamps of Darien Page 18 

A Glimpse of a South Sea Island 31 

Pioneer Voyages to the Pacific 34 

The Point of Pines 37 

Drake at the Extremity of Cape Horn 45 

The Golden Hind in Drake's Bay 48 

Deserted 52 

The Old Bells from the Mission San Diego 53 

Carrael Mission 55 

Junipero Serra's Monument 58 

Seal Rocks 62 

Mount Tamalpais from the Bay C3 

Among the Buffaloes 71 

The Sierra in the Distance 76 

Wind River Mountains 81 

Donner Lake in Winter 92 

Cache Creek 102 

General Vallejo 104 

The O'.d Fort at Sonoma 106 

The Flag Guarding the Golden Gate 110 

Sutter's Fort 116 

Sutter's Mill 117 

General Fremont 126 

Kit Carson 128 

Fremont's Headquarters at Los Angeles 129 

Battle Rock 139 

Aborigines 1*3 

11 




iMFi^ russession of the Pacific Ocean, us .sianu^ 
Lands, and All the Shores Washed by Its Waves. 



THE STORY OF HOW BALBOA DISCOVERED THE 
PACIFIC, 

HEN Balboa was a little boy, he lived 

in Spain. He was seventeen years 

of age when Columbus discovered 

America. He was a poor boy, 

and worked for a deaf man, 

the lord of Moguer. 

One day a stranger came to the place 

and told him about the great deeds of 

Columbus and the wonderful land he 

had discovered. The stories about the 




Balboa's Cross 



new world filled 
Balboa with a de- 
sire to visit un- 
known lands. 

To think, with 
him, was to act. 
In a short time, 
he found 
himself in 
Hay ti, then 
known by 

15 



Reference Topics. 

The Barrel Incident. 

Balboa's Marriage to 
the Indian Chief's 
Daughter. 

Life in Darien. 

The First Mention of 
the TVestern Sea. 

First Sight of the 
Pacific Ocean. 

Balboa Takes Posses- 
sion, Sept. 29, 1513. 

Death of Balboa. 



16 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

the musical Spanish name, Hispaniola. He tried 
farming, but with no great success. He produced 
more debts than anything else, and debts were as 
much trouble then as now. 

In order to avoid the people he owed, he hid 
himself in a barrel. It was rolled on board a ship. 
When the captain, Encisco, found him, the ship 
was too far out at sea to put him off. The captain 
was angry ; but Balboa smiled and said : " I know 
a country where there is a lot of gold. I '11 take 
you to it." 

The captain, seeing that he was a brave, hand- 
some young man, decided to make use of him. On 
the advice of Balboa, Encisco sailed for Darien. 

The sailors liked Balboa better than they did 
their captain; so they chose him for their leader, 
and sent Encisco back. 

Balboa became friendly with the native chiefs. 
One day two men came into his camp, dressed in 
the skins of wild beasts. They told him about the 
" Great Water" on the other side of the mountain, 
and of the land of gold, afterward known as Peru. 
They said that an Indian chief who lived near by 
had much gold. 

The chief was taken prisoner and robbed of his 
gold by the Spaniards. He wanted to be friendly, 
and so gave Balboa his daughter in marriage. He 
then led him to a place where there was a rich vil- 



HOW BALBOA DISCOVERED THE PACIFIC. 17 

lage. They found plenty of food and a fine drink 
made from oalm-juice, which the Indians called 
" Tuba." 

The chief had a boy who gave Balboa gold. It 
was divided among the men. Balboa kept a share 
for his red dog with the black snout, called '^ Little 
Lion." 

The men fought about their share of gold. The 
young chief parted them, and said: "You fight 
about such stuff; for this you make us slaves and 
burn our towns. Beyond the mountains is a great 
sea. The rivers that run into it are filled with 
gold; the people drink from golden cups." 

Balboa had heard about the big sea and the gold 
many times before. He made up his mind that he 
would cross the high mountain and see if the stories 
he heard were true. 

He took with him about two hundred men,* a 
lot of bloodhounds, including his favorite " Little 
Lion," and Indians. On the 6th of September, 
1513, he began his march to the sea. It was a 
fearful trip. 

Darien, now known as the Isthmus of Panama, 
has seen the wrecks of many lives of people who 
have tried to cross it since that time. On the 
eastern coast it is full of sandy marshes; farther 

* Pizarro, who afterwards conquered Peru, was with Balboa on this 
Journey. 



18 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



inland dried and perished vegetation stands, like 
skeleton sentinels, above the green of the under- 
brush, which is protected from the fiery hot sun by 
its own denseness. The silent hotness of the place 




In the Swamps of Darien. 

is great. No song of bird is heard. It is like the 
twilight stillness of a country lane before sound of 
cricket rasps the ear. 

Through the hot glare of the sun and the lan- 
guorous heat of the marshes marched Balboa and 
his men, clad in clumsy armor. At night the 



HOW BALBOA DISCOVERED THE PACIFIC. 19 

swamps were full of pests; big snakes fell from 
the trees on the men; monkeys chattered in the 
trees; weird, strange birds, with beautiful feathers, 
screeched; the wild tiger growled; fever lurked in 
the air; even the palm-trees were covered with 
poisonous vines. 

At last they came to the foot of a high mountain. 
Porqu6, a chief, with one thousand men, met Bal- 
boa. "What do you want? I will kill every one 
of you if you try to cross my path." Balboa 
marched right on. 

Porque and his men tried to stop him with their 
big war-whoops. When the Spaniards fired their 
guns and let loose their bloodhounds, six hundred 
of the Indians were killed. 

Balboa and sixty of his men now started to climb 
the mountain. The bushes were so thick the men 
had to cut paths with their sabers. At last Balboa 
reached the top of the mountain. He stood, as 
Keats said of Cortez, — 

" Silent upon a peak in Darien." 

Before him w^as a great ocean. He would be the 
first to see it. It would bring him great glory. 
Who can picture the joy in his heart as he beheld 
the Southern sea, the mightiest ocean of the globe, 
its white foam fringing more than half the world. 
With the majesty of the ocean before him and the 



20 WESTERN SEHIES OF READERS. 

majesty of God above him, he turned his eyes from 
one to the other and uttered a silent prayer. 

As the men came up, Balboa said: "There, my 
friends, is the reward of your labors. You are the 
first Christians to behold that sea!" The men 
shouted for joy. They built a cross and piled 
stones around it. 

They put the name of the ruler of Spain on the 
trees. Then Balboa, in a loud voice, said : " I take 
possession of the Southern sea, with all its islands 
and firm lands, and all the shores washed by its 
waves." A paper was then drawn up and signed 
by each man, telling how they were the first to see 
the big ocean. 

The Indians did not know why Balboa was so 
interested about it. It is doubtful if Balboa himself 
knew that the knowledge he gained would change 
the map of the world. 

He wanted to touch the water with his hands. 
It was on the 29tli of September, St. Michael's day, 
1513, that he sat down upon a grassy slope and 
waited for the return of the tide. 

When the sand was covered one or two feet, Bal- 
boa, dressed in his armor, holding his sword and a 
banner, with the Virgin and Child on one side, and 
on the other the arms of Spain, marched into the 
water. He read to the waves and the silences quite 
a long speech, using large words. 



HOW BALBOA DISCOVERED THE PACIFIC. 21 

He claimed that the sea was his, and all the 
islands and all the lands the waters touched, upon 
the belief that " finders are keepers," and took pos- 
session of everything in sight in the name of the 
sovereign of Spain. He declared that he was able 
to fight all the other nations on the face of the 
earth. It was a big speech. 

Balboa did not name the sea the Pacific Ocean. 
It was not known by that name until some years 
afterward, when Magellan sailed through the 
"Straits of Eleven Thousand Virgins," now known 
by his name, and found a smooth, placid sea; and 
he gave it the name Pacific, which means calm, 
peaceful. 

There is but little more to tell you about Balboa. 
On his return he did a very cruel thing. They 
came to a valley ruled by a rich Indian, Poncra. 
He fled from them and left his gold. They wanted 
to know wdiere Poncra found so much gold; so his 
men captured him and brought him back. 

Balboa asked: "Where did you get the gold?" 

Poncra answered : " I know not; my fathers left it 
to me." He w'as tortured, but would tell no more. 
In an evil hour Balboa let the bloodhounds loose 
on poor Poncra, and they tore him to pieces. 

The enemies of Poncra were pleased, and made 
Balboa king; but this cruel act will always stain 
his name. 



22 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



Balboa, Vasco Nunez, a 

Spanish conqueror, was born 
of a noble but reduced family, 
at Xeres-de-Caballeros, in 1475. 
After leading rather a disso- 
lute life in his youth, he sailed 
with Rodrigo de Bastidas to 
the New World. He settled at 
Hayti. In 1510, he joined the 
expedition to Darien, com- 
manded by Encisco. An in- 
surrection in the new colony 
placed Balboa in supreme com- 
mand. September 25, 1513, he 
obtained the first sight of the 
Pacific from a mountain-top. 
The governorship of the terri- 
tories conquered by Balboa 
was obtained in 1514 by Pedra- 
rias Davila, by means of his 
intrigues at the Spanish court. 
Balboa resigned the command 
Into the hands of the new gov- 
ernor, a narrow-minded and 
cruel man, and, in a subordi- 
nate position, undertook many 
important expeditions. His 
success only increased the ha- 
tred of Davila towards him. A 
dispute arose. Pedrarias in- 
duced Balboa to deliver him- 
self up, promising him protec- 
tion. In violation of all forms 
of justice, he was beheaded at 
Santa Maria, in 1517. 



The brave men returned in triumph on the 19th 
of January, 1514. They had been gone a little 

over four months, and 
brought back, not only a 
big sea, but gold, pearls, 
slaves, weapons, and 
cloth. 

In Europe the news 
of the great sea created 
almost as much of a sen- 
sation as the discovery 
of America by Colum- 
bus. 

Balboa devoted him- 
self to serious things. 
He became very popu- 
lar. The rulers were 
jealous of him. The gov- 
ernor of Darien was a 
weak and wicked man. 

One day Balboa re- 
ceived a message that 
the governor wanted to 
see him. He had four 
hundred men, ships, and 
gold, and would not need 
to have obeyed the governor; but he was loyal. 
When he arrived he was put in chains. 



The governor tried him for treason, and ordered 
him beheaded. He died a brave man, declaring 
that to Spain he was loyal and true. As time 
goes on, the good qualities of Balboa are remem- 
bered, and the evil forgotten. 

The brave men of the sixteenth century had hard 
fates — Balboa and Raleigh beheaded; Columbus 
sent home in chains; Cortez, neglected and in 
poverty; Cabrillo and Drake died of exposure; 
Magellan — well, that is another story, which I will 
tell you in the next chapter. 



BLACKBOARD WORDS. 

Magellan (ma jel'lan), Darien (dil'ie-en), Cabrillo (kii- 
brel'yo), Pacific (pa-sif ic), governor (guv'ern-er), Encisco 
(en-ces'co), Spaniard (spjln'yerd), majesty (maj'es-ty), Mo- 
guer (mo-gar'), Hispaniola (his-pan-i-o'la), sovereign (sov'- 
er-in, or stiv'er-in), qualities (kwol'I-tiz), isthmus (is'mus), 
Balboa (bal-bo'a). 

AND ever, as he traveled, he would climb 
-Xi. The farthest mountain; yet the heavenly chime, 
The mighty tolling of the far-off spheres 
Beating their pathway, never touched his ears. 
*ut wheresoe'er he rose the heavens rose, 
And the far-gazing mountain could disclose 
Nought but a wider earth; until one height 
Showed him the ocean stretched in liquid light, 
And he could hear its multitudinous roar, 
Its plunge and hiss upon the ptbbled shore. 
Then Jubal silent sat, and touched his lyre no more. 

He thought, "This world is great: but I am weak." 

— George Eliot. 




The qddeix fleece is 2J ovrfee^^ 
Ovr 



Mor 
Tha 




Ber\eatK'i^;^ci^r\t^iMRd frees 

Theaqg 
Gold apples of _^^__ 

Har\q at our qo^^^^ates for aye 
Ovr golderv shores KaveqoIde[\ keys 
Where sound arvd sir\g the Balboa Seas. 

•J9AQUIN- MILLER' 




&(s^m 






Avch h^OT 1 trg^vetl'd IrxtKe ree^lms o[ gold, 
Ar\d rmy gi^^ ^tes^d kiixgdcms see[\: 
Rovr^^y^ft^^^B^ave 1 beer\ 
WKi(fct>ard»^ ' 



me wid 
TKa.1 fcep-browtf 
Yer did 1 i\evei 
"nillKea.1 
Ther\feir 
Whenane 
Or like stout 
He stared a^t the 
Look'd at each o 



fflaaitJ 




^v told 
m Kf-demesae 
erer\e 
a.!\d bold 
5|Jhe skies 
^fo Ns kei\ 
aqle eyes 



ndall Kisiwei\ 
ilKaixvild svmise 
Silei\t,vpor\ a peak ir\ Darlen- 

-KDAT5- 




MAGELLAN; OR, THE RRST VOYAGE ROUND 
THE WORLD. 




ERNAN Magellan grew to manhood 
in a quaint old town in Northern 
Portugal called Villa Real. 

When a boy, he climbed the rug- 
ged, lofty mountains near his home, 
and hunted the wild boar, the deer, 
and other game. On the hillsides 
grew the luscious, purple grapes 
from which the famous port wine is 
made. 

One day, when he looked out upon 
the wide sea. 



the hope came 
upon him to 
be a captain 
and sail ships. 
His father, 
who was a 
kindly man, 
asked : " What troubles you, 
Fernan?" and Fernan an- 

26 



Reference Topics. 

Magellan's Boyhood. 
Services for King 

Manuel. 
The August Morning 

in 1519. 
October 31, 1530. 
On the Pacific. 
Philippine Islands. 
Death of Maerellan. 
TJeturn of theVictoria. 



THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 27 

swered: " I thirst for thrilling adventures by land 
and sea." 

The father replied : " I '11 send you to our good 
King Manuel. He will find some exploit for you. 
A stalwart youth like you will find merit in his 
royal eyes." 

Fernan bade farewell to his father and friends 
and appeared before the king, who received him 
with favor. It was not long before he sailed to the 
shores of Africa and India and fought many daring 
battles in the service of his native country. 

Magellan's desire to be a great discoverer and 
sail to unknown lands led him to return to Portu- 
gal. The king was angry with him for leaving his 
post in Africa, and would not listen to his plan 
of sailing westward across the Atlantic to India. 

A man who read fortunes by the stars sent 
Magellan to Spain. King Charles was a beardless 
boy, with a short, thick form, and a head of stubby, 
yellow hair; but he was brave and ambitious, and 
he ordered five vessels to be made ready for the 
daring captain from Portugal. 

Fernan met his old sweetheart, Beatrix, in Se- 
ville. She had heard about his exploits in Africa. 
Her blushes told Magellan that she still loved him. 
Before he sailed they were married. It was with 
a sad heart that she watched the men filling the 
ships with food for the long, perilous voyage. 



28 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



It was a warm, soft August morning m 1519, that 
the five little ships sailed from Seville, and left 
behind them the olive-crowned hills of Spain. 

It was nearly two months before the ships reached 
the coast of South America. The men were glad to 

get on land once more. 

They found a place 
where there were thou- 
sands of parrots, and 
one of Magellan's men 
discovered growing in 
the ground an oval- 
shaped tuber that grew 
on a root. 

The man said: "I 
have found an Italian 
chestnut growing in the 
ground." The chestnuts 
were roasted on coals, 
and tasted good. This, 
no doubt, is the first 
mention of the potato, 
which John Hawkins 
took to Ireland, in 1565, 
from South America, 
and is now known as the Irish potato. 

As they sailed south, they came to a place where 
the Indians were as large as giants. One of the 



Magellan, Fernan, or 
rernando, was born in Opor- 
to, of good family, near the 
close of the fifteenth century. 
He served with distinction un- 
der Albuquerque in the East 
Indies; but. King Manuel not 
rewarding him for his services, 
he went to Spain, in 1517, with 
Ruy Falero, a geographer and 
astrologer. They laid before 
Charles the Fifth a scheme to 
reach the Moluccas by sailing 
west. It was received with fa- 
vor, and he sailed with five 
ships and two hundred and 
thirty-six men. He sailed to 
the mouth of the La Plata and 
and along the shores of Pata- 
gonia, through the straits 
which bear his name, and 
across the Pacific, and fell in 
a fight with the chief of the 
Isle of Matan, one of the Phil- 
ippine Islands, April 26, 1521. 
His ship finally reached home, 
S-ptember 6, *1522,— the first 
complete voyage around the 
world. 



THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 29 

sailors got a big Indian to look at himself in a mir- 
ror. It was so great a surprise to him that he gave 
a loud cry, and jumped back so suddenly that 
he knocked three or four sailors down. Magellan 
treated the Indians kindly, and in return was treated 
kindly by them. 

Some of the sailors wanted to return to Spain 
and created a mutiny. Magellan, with the aid of 
a few friends, captured the leaders, and gave them 
no mercy. He ordered them shot, and then placed 
his friends in command. 

On October 21, 1520, the heart of Magellan leaped 
with joy. He had dis- 
covered the Southern 
inlet; the straits that 
now bear his name. 

When the fleet came 
to a favorable bay, two 
ships were sent forward. 
A storm arose. Magellan thought the ships would 
surely be lost, but in a few days they returned. 
The captain said : " Praise God, Admiral, we have 
found the outlet!" 

Magellan took him in his arms and burst into 
tears. " Is it true? Have you seen the other ocean. 
— the Western Ocean beyond?" " We have seen it," 
was the answer. Then there was rejoicing. It was 
a great day for Magellan and his brave sailors. 



"In 


the afternoon they 
unto a land 


came 


In 


which it seemed always 




afternoon. 




All 


round the coast the 
guid air did swoon. 


Ian- 


Breathing like one that 


hath 




a weary dream," 





80 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

It was decided to sail over the sea and discover 
the Spice Islands, or Moluccas. It was a daring 
thing to do, but they were brave men. So they 
sailed out on the trackless and nameless sea. 

One day he called his sailors about him and said: 
" Comrades, we are on an unknown sea — no ship 
has ever sailed in these gentle waters. Comrades, 
I will christen this calm, gentle sea, the Pacific." 
The sea was so calm that the ship made no progress 
at all for weeks. 

No land was in sight. The provisions were almost 
out. The men were attacked with scurvy. The 
_^_______ biscuits were reduced to 

Alone, alone, all, all alone, ! POWder and full of 

worms. The men had 
to eat leather after soak- 
ing it in the sea. About 
twenty of the men died, 
and others were so ill that hardly enough were left 
to sail the ship. At last they came to some islands, 
which are now known as the Philippine Islands 
where there was plenty of food and water. 

At one of the islands Magellan became very 
friendly with the native king. It was a rich tropical 
island. Food was plenty, and he traded with the 
natives. 

Note.— It is said that Magellan's voyage, as written by Irving, sug- 
gested <'The Ancient Mariner" to Coleridge. It should be read in con- 
nection with this story. 



Alone on a wide, wide sea, 
And never a saint took pity on 
My soul in agony. 

—Coleridge. 



THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 



31 



Magellan was very religious. He converted the 
king to Christianity. 

One day he went out to fight the enemy of the 
king. It was, however, a sad day for Magellan and 
his men. They attacked the savages at midnight. 
There were about fifteen hundred savages against 
Magellan and his forty-nine men. The savage king 
saw that while the Spaniards were protected by the 




L 



A Glimpse of a South Sea Island 



shields, that their legs were exposed; so he ordered 
his men to strike them on their shins with the 
spears. It was a terrible battle. 

Many of the Spaniards fell lifeless at the feet 
of their foes It was a brave struggle. Magellan 
fought like a tiger. The blood streamed from his 
many wounds. An enormous savage struck him 
a blow on he left leg, and he sank forward on liis 



32 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS.. 

face. A multitude of savages fell upon him. They 
ran him through and through with their spears. 

Magellan died at the age of forty-one. He was 
a brave and heroic pioneer of the Western seas. 

But few of his men lived to complete the voyage. 
After terrible hardships, eighteen men reached 
Spain on the 6th of September, 1522, in tlie Vic- 
toria, the only ship that remained of the gallant 
fleet that sailed away from there years before. The 
men were given a great welcome. It was thought 
that all had perished. 

Among the people that looked wistfully at the 
sailors was a beautiful woman, dressed in black, 
leading a little child. It was Beatrix and her 
daughter. 

King Charles gave to each sailor a pension. And 
to the captain he gave an image of the globe, with 
the motto, ^' You were the first to go around me." 

A curious thing about the voyage was that by 
sailing from east to west a day was lost. But had 
they sailed from west to east they would have 
gained a day. 



BLACKBOARD AVORDS. 

Magellan (ma-jeriaii), aclA-entures (ad-v&n'tures), Seville 
(s6v'il, 07'se-viir), mutiny (mu'ti-ny), Molviccas (mo-luk'kas)» 
biscuits (bis-kits), Philippine (firip-pin), perilous (per'il- 
tis), exploits (eks-ploits). 



CABRILLO. 




■ABRiLLO was the first man to sail along the 
coast of California. On the 28th of Septem- 
ber, 1542, he anchored in a harbor which 
^W^ ^ he named San Miguel. The man who 
-^^^^^ reported the voyage wrote: "A wind 
• ^^ blew from the west-southwest and 

south-southwest; but the port be- 
ing good, they felt nothing." 

The harbor is now called the Bay of San Diego. 
The people there hold a great festival each year in 
honor of Cabrillo. The entrance to this harbor is 
sometimes called the Gates of Palm. Cabrillo re- 
mained in the harbor six 
days. 

The Indians came down to 
the shore and looked at the 
ship. They were very timid. 
One night, when the men 
were fishing, the Indians 
shot arrows at them and 
wounded three. The sailors 
were very careful after this. 



Reference Topics. 

Discovery of tlie Bay 
of San Diego. 

The Indians. 

Interior Civilization. 

How Names have 
been Changed. 

Cabrillo Sailing 
NortliTvard. 

Cabrillo' s Return. 

Death of Cabrillo. 



33 



34 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



Cabrillo learned from the Indians that, back from 
the ocean, there were men dressed and armed like 
the Spaniards. He took great interest in the 




Pioneer Voyages to the Pacific. 

natives and treated them kindly. The sailors did 
not want to leave San Diego Bay, because it was 
such a good harbor. But Cabrillo was anxious to 
sail northward. 



i 



CABKILLO. 



35 



The man who wrote descriptions of the places 
Cabrillo visited in his voyage did not use exact 
words. So the reader is not always sure of the 
ports he meant. It is certain, however, he sailed 

to San Pedro, Santa Mon- 

ica, and Santa Barbara. 
Cabrillo gave long names 
to these places, but they 
are not the ones now on 
the maps. 

At Santa Barbara, Ca- 
brillo found some queer 
natives, who wore their 
hair long, and had it 
fixed up with some 
strings of flint, bone, 
and wooden daggers. 
They caught fish, and 
ate them raw. They also 
had good canoes, and 
were better than other 
Indians in many re- 
spects. He heard stories 
like those at San Diego, that, distant seven days' 
journey, was a great river, and that the people, who 
looked like the sailors, had towns there. 

Cabrillo then sailed farther north. His ship 
drifted northwestward with the wind ; the weather 



CabrUlo, Juan Rodri- 
guez, was born in Portugal. 
He mailed from Navidad, June 
27, 15-12, with two ships — the 
San Salvador and the Victoria. 
On July 2d, he reached Santa 
Cruz, in Lower California. He 
sailed northwestward and ex- 
amined the coast with great 
care, especially with reference 
to its capes and roadsteads. He 
gave the present name to the 
Bay of Magdalena. The Bay of 
Todos los Santos was named 
by him San Mateo. In the lat- 
ter part of September he passed 
the Coronado Islands, and 
sailed into the bay now known 
as San Diego, Avhich he named 
San Miguel. He discovered the 
islands of Santa Cruz, Santa 
Rosa, and San Miguel. At the 
latter place he died, January 3, 
loJS. Ferrelo, his chief pilot, 
took command of the expedi- 
tion. To Cabrillo belongs the 
honor of the discovery of Cali- 
fornia. 



36 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

was pleasant, the coast rough, without harbors, 
and off in the distance lofty mountains, covered 
with snow. 

One morning at dawn, as the sun sowed its path 
of gold across the brown hills to the sea, he saw a 
point of land covered with pines. He called it the 
Cape of the Pines. Then he sailed on and on — 
past the Golden Gate and the great harbor within, 
to Point Peyes. 

History says he turned southward, and " de- 
scended under lofty snow-capped mountains so 
near that they seemed about to fall on them." The 
ship anchored in a little harbor at San Miguel 
Island, near Santa Barbara. One day Cabrillo fell 
and broke his arm. He was not careful with it, 
and it brought on an illness which resulted in his 
death, January 3, 1543. His dying words were: 
" Sail northward, at all hazards." 

No trace of his grave can be found; no stone 
marks the spot where his body rests. He did not 
seem to have the pirate's heart, like Balboa, Drake, 
Pizarro, and so many other of the sea kings who 
made voyages to the Pacific. 

The books do not contain long accounts of his 
deeds; yet his services to the world will not be for- 
gotten. If monuments are an honor, then the 
people of the West Coast ought to erect one to the 
man who made the first voyage to California. 



CABRILLO. 
BLACKBOARD TVORDS. 



37 



Cabrillo (ka-brel'yo), San Miguel (siin me-ggl'), Reyes 
(rays), San Diego (stin de-a'go), hazards (IiAz'erdz), anchored 
(an'kerd), Pizarro (pe-zjlr'ro), Santa Rosa (siin' til ro'sa), San- 
ta Barbara (san'tii biir'ba-ra), Balboa (bal-bo'a). 




The Point of Pines. 




AH, what is tliis 
Old land beyond the seas, that you should miss 
For her the grace and majesty of mine? 
Are not the fruit and vine 
Fair on my hills, and in my vale the rose ? 
The palm-tree and the pine 
Strike hands together under the same skies, 
In every wind that blows. 

— INA D. COOLBRITH. 



AT SAN DIEGO BAY. 




BY MADGE MORRIS WAGNER. 

ERE first on California's soil, 
Cabrillo walked the lone- 
some sands; 
Here first the Christian stand- 
ard rose 
Upon the sea-washed West- 
ern lands, 
And Junipero Serra first 
Laid loving hands. 

What saw they here, that fearless band. 
To bless, or touch with loving hand ? 
Or bid them pause, or dream to stay, 
Around this silent, sleeping bay? 

An acreage of many miles, 

Vast miles of sun-burnt naked space, 
Red, brown, and bare, and baked as tiles; 

Whose surface lay unchanged of face 
As it had lain, the hills among, 
Since first Creation's psalm was sung; 

38 



AT SAN DIEGO BAY. 39 

Whose people watched the squirrels play, 
And knew not any more than they. 

Not these alone, the fathers saw 

Not these made hardships doubly sweet — 
He never sees his arrow's flight 

Who's always looking at his feet; — 
Those holy fathers, wiser they, 

They marked the broad expanse of plains, 
And mountains gushing crystal life 

Enough to fill its thirsting veins; — 
They saw, far off, the mingled weft 

Of colors wrought from out the soil, 
When Nature rounds upon her loom 

The laborer's legacy of toil. 

They served, and toiled, and built, and planned. 
But ever saw a promised land; 
And heard its slowly rising swells 
Ring joyous from their mission bells. 

Decades past, and fifty years, 

A century was born and died; 
A nation struggled into birth. 

And rose to midday of its pride. 
And freedom's war-wet staff was set 

Beside that one of love and peace; 
And suns of noons, and midnight moons. 

Unwove and wove time's a^reless fleece. 



40 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

Time crept by the mission bells, 

And back, and tied their tongues with rust, 
And touched the eye-lids of the priest. 

And garmented his bones with dust. 

The glory of the mission passed. 

Its gloom its glory overcast. 

Within its corners, shadow-walled, 

The bats built nests; the lizard crawled 

Upon the sunny side to sit. 

With soulless eyes, and laugh at it. 

But smile not ye with scornful lips. 

Nor croak a prophecy of this ; 
There 's nothing lost that 's lost, and naught 

That once has lived has lived amiss. 
Nay, smile not ye, nor count that false 

Which failed in promises it gave ; 
Gold is gold, though it go down 

A thousand fathoms in the wave; 
And brighter-hued the blossom is 

That blooms upon a grave. 

In silence sleeps the bay no more — 
Its treasury of wealth is found; 

And all its crescent-curving shore 
With infant cities girded round ; 



AT SAN DIEGO BAY. 



41 



And through its gateway come and go 
The sails of sun and sails of snow. 

Progress to this old new West 

Has turned her face and set her seal; 
Has bound the waters, broke the hills, 

And shod the desert sands with steel. 
land of sun! — hot, splendid sun! — 

Of sea-cool winds, and Southern moons! — 
Of days of calm, and nights of balm, 

And languorous, dreamy noons! 
It needs no seer to tell for thee. 
Thy daring and thy destiny. 



M^* 




THE STORY OF DRAKE, THE BRAVE SAILOR. 




^^IR Francis Drake was the first English- 
man to sail around the world. He was 
also the first to sail along the coast of 
California. Some of his adventures 
were wild and thrilling. 
He was born in Devonshire, England, 
in 1539, near where that other brave sailor and 
friend of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
lived. His cousin was the brave sea-captain, John 
Hawkins. He heard many stories about the sea. 

The wonderful adventures of Columbus, Bal- 
boa, Magellan, Cabrillo, and 
others gave him an ambi- 
tion to be a sailor. 

One day, while visiting 
the sea-coast, he met a queer 
old man who owned a little 
ship. This bachelor sea- 
captain took a great fancy to 
Drake — and well he might, 
for Drake was a brave lad. 
He made several sea trips 

42 



Reference Topics. 

Compare Drake Tvitb. 
Spanish. Explorers. 

John Hawkins, the 
Slave-Trader. 

The Spanish Armada. 

Drake on Cape Horn. 

First Religions Ser- 
vice in California. 

The Queer Animals. 

Death of Drake. 

The Golden Hind. 



THE STORY OF DRAKE. 



43 



with this old captain, 
the old man died and 
left his ship to his young 
mate. 

It was not long after 
tills time that his cousin, 
John Hawkins, asked 
him to sail with him to 
the New World. His 
cousin told him about 
the profits in the slave 
trade, and of the chances 
to get gold. The Eng- 
lish and Spanish were 
at war. Drake thought 
it was all right to attack 
Spanish ships and Span- 
ish towns, and to take 
all the gold that he 
could find. He secured 
so much gold and cap- 
tured so many ships that 
he became a great hero. 

His men landed at 
Darien, where Balboa 
had been before. Drake 
heard stories from the 
Indians how the Spanish 



On one of these voyages 



Drake, Sir Francis, was 

born in a cottage on the banks 
of the Tavy, in Devonshire. 
His father was a yeoman, and 
liad twelve sons. He went to 
sea with a neighbor of his 
father's, who possessed a bark. 
Drake fell heir to the vessel. 
While coasting about, he heard 
of the exploits of Hawkins and 
the New World. He fitted out a 
vessel, and with wild and reck- 
less spirits cruised in the West 
Indies. In 1517, he plundered 
the town of Nombre de Dios. 
He crossed the Isthmus of 
Darien, saw the Pacific Ocean, 
and returned to England, laden 
with spoils, a successful sea- 
rover. Under the sanction of 
Queen Elizabeth, Drake sailed 
for the Pacific. He sacked the 
Spanish towns on the coasts of 
Chile and Peru. Hoping to 
find a passage back to the At- 
lantic, he sailed north. He 
anchored near Point Reyes, 
and took formal possession of 
the country in the name of the 
Queen of England. He then 
sailed across the Pacific, dou- 
bled the Cape of Good Hope, 
and arrived at Plymouth, Sep- 
tember 26, 1579. He Avas vice- 
admiral in the fleet which 
destroyed the naval suprem- 
acy of Spain, in the Armada. 
Drake died at Kombre de Dios, 
December 27, 1595, and the bold 
sailor and buccaneer was given 
a sea funeral. 



44 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

brought rich treasures from Peru across the Isth- 
mus. He decided to capture the Spaniards and 
rob them of their gold. 

Then, like Balboa, he wanted to see the " Great 
Water." After traveling twelve days he came to the 
top of a hill. His Indian guide told him to climb 
a tree and he could see the Southern Ocean. 

He looked out through the leafy branches of the 
thee and beheld the smooth waters of the Pacific, 

"On whose bosom sparkled the diamonds of the sun." 

He asked God to give him life and heart to sail an 
English ship upon the unknown sea. 

The view of the Pacific made him feel that he 
would attain wealth and glory for England. His 
active brain formed many plans. The thought 
that he would bring proud Spain to the dust, fired 
his fancy. He came down from the top of the 
tree thrilled with what he saw. 

At Panama he captured a mule train loaded with 
bars of gold and other treasures. After many 
trials, he again reached the Atlantic side and sailed 
for England. 

The news of his adventures and of his gold soon 
spread through the towns. It was on Sunday, 
the 9th of August, 1573, that Drake landed in 
Plymouth harbor. 

He was now a rich man. After giving money to 




Drake at the Extremity of Cape Horn. 



46 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

all his relatives, he still had plenty to engage in 
new enterprises. He wanted to sail to the Pacific. 
One day the queen sent for him and made him a 
nresent of a beautiful sword, and Drake knew that 
he had her sanction to make the trip. 

He soon had a fleet of five vessels. At five o'clock 
in the afternoon, November 15, 1777, the gallant 
fleet sailed toward the setting sun. 

After many adventures, Drake sailed through the 
Straits of Magellan, on the Golden Hind, and saw 
the cape which stood at tlie outlet to the Pacific. 

He cast anchor at the side of some lofty cliffs 
and went ashore. He went to the highest cliff, and 
going to the outer edge he flung his arms toward 
the sea. 

When he returned to the Golden Hind, one of 
the men asked him where he had been. Drake 
replied with a proud smile, " I have been farther 
south than any man living." Drake left Cape 
Horn and sailed northward. 

All of his ships, save one, either met with dis- 
aster or deserted. So the Golden Hind sailed alone. 

It followed the west coast all the way from Cape 
Horn to Oregon. He believed that he could find a 
northern passage to the Atlantic. On his way 
northward he stopped at the towns, in order to fight 
the Spanish and secure gold, silver, and food. 

Drake had with him on the Golden Hind, a chap- 



THE STORY OF DRAKE. 47 

lain by the name of Fletcher. This man kept a 
record of the voyage. He tells in his report that the 
snow and ice could be seen on the mountains along 
the coast, and that the weather was so cold that 
Drake gave up his northern trip and returned south. 

It was in June that Drake found a harbor. Some 
say that it was the Bay of San Francisco. But it is 
more than likely that he sailed by the Golden Gate, 
not dreaming that within its portals was one of the 
finest harbors in the world. 

He anchored at what is known as Drake's Bay, 
near Point Reyes. The Indians came down to the 
ship, and treated the sailors very kindly, regarding 
them with awe. The ship remained over one month 
at this place. It was repaired and a new supply of 
water and food secured. 

Chaplain Fletcher here held the first religious 
service in California. Drake made a journey in- 
land, and saw fat deer and thousands of queer little 
animals that had tails like rats and paws like 
moles. The people ate them, and the kings had 
holiday coats made of their skins. All this is 
described in quaint old English that would be 
hard for the modern schoolboy to spell. 

Drake named all of California New Albion — 
first, because it had so many white banks and 
cliffs; and second, because Albion was the name 
often applied to old England. 



4S 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



Then he sailed west, and sailed, and sailed, and 
sailed, till he reached England. He had gone 
around the world in two 3^ears and ten months, 
and had secured gold and disabled many Spanish 
ships. 

Queen Elizabeth visited him and dined with him 
aboard the Golden Hind. The queen took his sword 




The Golden Hind in Drake's Bay 



and said: ^'This sword, Drake, might still serve 
thee. Thou hast carried it around the globe ; but ere 
we return it to thee, it must render us a service.'* 
Gently tapping Drake on the shoulder, she said in 
a clear voice, " Rise, Sir Francis Drake.'* 



THE STORY OF DRAKE. 49 

He was now a knight. He had sailed around the 
globe. He had defied danger in every form. He 
had dealt terrible blows to the Spaniards. He had 
made numerous discoveries. He had returned 
rich, a conqueror, a pioneer. His exploits thrilled 
the people. 

He continued to fight the Spaniards for some 
years, winning new laurels. King Philip of Spain 
sent to Queen Elizabeth the Latin verse, which 
translated reads thus: 

" These to you are our commands : 
Send no help to the Netherlands. 
Of the treasures took by Drake, 
Restitution you must make." 

In reply, Drake fought the Spanish Armada, and 
continued to take treasures. He then returned to 
the field of his first success, and attempted to cap- 
ture Panama. His men died by the score with 
fever. He was also taken sick ; and one bright, genial 
morning in January, in 1596, he arose to go on 
deck, but fell back and died, surrounded by his 
men, and he was buried beneath the waters that he 
loved so well. 

The Golden Hind was ordered preserved. It was 
kept for one hundred years, but it has long since 
decayed. A chair made from its timbers was given 
by Charles II. to Oxford University, and it may be 
seen yet — a memento of the first English ship to 



50 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



touch California's shores, and of its bold captain, 
Sir Francis Drake, the sea-king of Devon. 

Note,— The Prayer-Book Cross in Golden Gate Park, the gift of G. W. 
Childs, was erected in honor of Drake's voyage to California. 



BLACKBOARD ^VORDS. 

Englishmen (in'glish-men), adventure (ad-ven'tur), 
bachelor (bftch'e-lor), chaplain (chap'lin), San Francisco 
(san fran-sis'co), translated (trans-lat'ed), university (u'ni- 
ver'si-ty), memento (me-men'to), restitution (res-ti-tu'shun), 
exploit (eks-ploits'), Plymouth (plim'uth), Armada (iir- 
ma'da, or iir-ma'da). 



^^^- i 




THE STORY OF THE MISSIONS. 




HE planting of the Cross in California 

is full of heroic interest. 

In the most beautiful places from 
San Diego to San Francisco, Junipero 
Serra and his followers built missions. 
After a lapse of more than a hundred 
years, they stand as landmarks of the 
devotion of the earliest pioneers. 

The founders, in the selection of sites, 
chose the most attractive places, and 
adopted a style of architecture that is 
the basis of some 



of the handsomest modern 
buildings. 

The buildings have the 
color and atmosphere of Cal- 
ifornia. They seem to have 
grown up out of the brown 
soil. The soft dove-color of 
the adobe walls, the red- 
brown tiles of the roof, the 
olive leaves on the trees, the 



Reference Topics. 

Junipero Serra's 
Overland Journey. 

Bay of San Diego. 

Mission at San Diego. 

The Journey to Mon- | 
terey. 

Mission Bells. 

Life and Character 
of Junipero Serra. 

The Missions. 

li^ndmarks of Span- 
ish Civilization. 



52 



WESTERN SERIES OF RP:ADERS. 



violet haze of the distant mountains, the tawny hue 
of the hills, all harmonize with each other. 

It was at noon on July 1, 1769, that Junipero Serra 
stood on the mesa above San Diego Bay. It is said 
that as he looked out across the soft wind-dimpled 
ocean and about him, his soul was filled with de- 
light, and he stooped, took a golden poppy, touched 




Deserted. 



it with his lips and exclaimed : " Copa de oro ! the 
Holy Grail ! I have found it ! " 

Junipero Serra, whose name was Jose Miguel be- 
fore he devoted himself to the church, had walked 
all the way from the City of Mexico to San Diego. 

The ship San Carlos had sailed from San Bias, 
and entered the harbor before the arrival of Junipero 
Serra and his companions. 



THE STORY OF THE MISSIONS. 



53 



The journey overland was hard on Junipero on 
account of a painful affliction of his foot. 

He asked one of the men for a remedy for the 
ailment. The man replied, '^ know no remedy; 
I am no surgeon; I can only cure the sores of 
beasts." 

"Well, son," replied Junipero, "treat me as a 




beast." The man smiled at the request. He took 
some tallow, mashed it between two stones, mixed 
some herbs with it, and applied the medicine. The 
relief was almost immediate. 

On July 14,1769, Portala, Father Crespi and about 
sixty others started northward overland to Mon- 
terey, in accordance with instructions of Charles III. 

Junipero Serra at once began the work of his life. 



54 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

On July 16th (the anniversary of the victory of the 
Spaniards over the Moors in 1212), he erected a 
cross near where the twin palms now stand at San 
Diego. Mass was celebrated. The natives looked 
on, and across their fiat faces crept an expression 
of wonder. 

One night the Indians, who were very fond of 
cloth, cut out a piece of the sails from the San 
Carlos. They would not eat the food of the Span- 
iards for fear of sickness. This was fortunate for 
the Spaniards, as their supply was limited. 

Junipero did not succeed in converting the In- 
dians at first; and in fact they have never been 
great exemplars of any religion. 

The little band was attacked one night. Jose 
Maria, a servant, was killed, and several others 
were wounded. The mission was removed in 1774 
to a spot on the San Diego River about five miles 
from the bay. Here palm-trees were planted, an 
olive orchard started, and ground cultivated. 

On November 4, 1775, eight hundred Indians at- 
tacked the mission. Father Louis Jayme and 
several others were killed. The mission was burned. 
The few soldiers, aided by the settlers, fought 
bravely. In the morning the Indians picked up 
their dead and wounded and marched away, and 
never renewed the attack. 

Junipero Serra sailed for Monterey on April 16, 



THE STORY OP THE MISSIONS. 55 

1770, to build a mission. Portala, Father Crespi, 
and companions had made an overland journey 
for the purpose, but had failed to find the port men- 
tioned by Vizcaino in 1603. 

Junipero succeeded in finding an immense circuit 
of smooth water, full of sea-lions and deep enough 
for whales. He landed, and on the morning of 
June 3, 1770, took formal possession of the place. 



THE Mission floor was with weeds o'ergrown, 
And crumbling and sliaky the walls of stone; 
Its roofs of tiles, in tiers and tiers, 
Had stood the storm a hundred years. 
An olden, weird, medieval style 
Clung to the moldering, gloomy pile; 
And the rhythmic voice of the breaking waves 
Sang a lonesome dirge in its land of graves. 
Strangely awed I felt that day, 
As I walked in the Mission, old and gray, — 
The Mission Carmel, at Monterey. 

— Madge Morris Wagner. 



56 WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 

Under an oak-tree an altar was raised, the bells 
were hung, and celebration was begun with loud 
and vigorous chimes. Junipero, in alb and stole, 
asked the blessing of heaven on their work. A 
great cross was erected. 

The famous port of Monterey was in possession of 
Spain, and the royal standard floated in this remote 
region, the squirrels and Indians watching it curi- 
ously. 

The mission was changed from the beach in 
1771 to its present location. The beautiful wild 
roses, the roses of Castile, grew all about it. The 
Monterey Cyprus, the forest of pines, the Carmel 
Eiver, the quiet crescent-shaped bay marked it as 
a beautiful spot. 

At this place Junipero Serra was aided by new 
arrivals, and the Indians began to take advantage 
of the missions. 

The establishment of missions at San Luis, San 
Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Rey, Pala, 
Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and other places went 
on with great rapidity. 

When the news of the conquest of California 
reached Old and New Spain, the bells of the cathe- 
drals rang in tune with the mission bells of San 
Diego, Monterey, and San Gabriel. ■ 

The missions were founded by the order known 
as Franciscans. Junipeno asked of Galvez: '' Is St. 



THE STORY OF THE MISSIONS. 57 

Francis to have no mission?" " Let him show us 
his port and he shall have one," was the reply. 

The port of St. Francis was shown, and San Fran- 
cisco is named after the Franciscan fathers. The city 
flourishes, though the missions crumble into dust. 

The same years that witnessed the conquest of 
Spain in California saw war for freedom on the At- 
lantic side. 

The spirit of this work of Spain was in Junipero 
Serra. In August, 1784, he sent a letter of eternal 
farewell to the Franciscans, and prepared for death. 
On August the 28th, he took leave of his old friend, 
Palou, and went to sleep. 

The mission bells tolled mournfully. The people 
covered his coffin with flowers, and touched his 
body with medals and rosaries. His garments were 
taken as relics. He was buried at San Carlos. 

" He ended his laborious life," says Father Palou, 
" at the age of seventy years nine months and four 
days. Eight missions were established, and five 
thousand eight hundred Indians were confirmed 
as the result of his labors in Upper California." 

This much was accomplished with great hard- 
ships. He limped from mission to mission, passed 
sleepless nights, listening to the howls of the coyotes, 
and in constant danger of an attack from treacher- 
ous Indians. The food was poor, clothing was scant, 
and his shelter frequently a gnarled oak, on which 



58 



WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 



hung the sacred mission bells. His name is with- 
out a stain. 

He followed the paths of the saints and martyrs, 
the ideals of his sickly boyhood. His work belonged 
to a pioneer age. 

The tourist of to-day finds a melancholy interest 
in the crumbling adobe walls, the wide corridors, 
the broken tiles, the cracked bells, the odd nooks, 
and strange, weird owls and bats that are now a 
part of the deserted missions. 



BLACKBOARD WORDS. 
Junipero Serra (hu-nip'e-ro ser'ra), harmonize (har'mo- 
nize), mesa (mu'sa), San Carlos (siin kjir'los), surgeon (ser'- 
jun), medicine (med'i-sin), Portala (por-ta'la), Crespi (kres'- 
pe), exemplars (egz-em'plars), Franciscans (fran-sis'kans), 
martyrs (milr'ters), weird (werd). 




- J 







Junipero Serra's Monument. 



THE ANGELUS. 

(HEARD AT THE MISSION DOLORES, 1868.) 
BY BRET HARTE. 

BELLS of the Past, whose long-forgotten music 
Still tills the wide expanse, 
Tingeing the sober twilight of the Present 
AYith color of romance! 

I hear your call, and see the sun descending 
On rock and wave and sand, 

As down the coast the Mission voices, blending. 
Girdle the heathen land. 

Within the circle of your incantation 
No blight nor mildew falls; 

Nor fierce unrest, nor lust, nor low ambition 
Passes those airy walls. 

Borne on the swell of your long waves receding, 
I touch the farther past,— 

I see the dying glow of Spanish glory, 
The sunseb dream and lastl 



59 



60 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



Before me rise the dome-shaped Mission towers, 

The white Presidio; 
The swart commander in his leathern jerkin, 

The priest in stole of snow. 

Once more I see Portala's cross uplifting 

Above the setting sun; 
And past the headland, northward, slowly drifting. 

The freighted galleon. 

O solemn bells! whose consecrated masses 

Recall the faith of old, — 
O tinkling bells ! that lulled with twilight music 

The spiritual fold! 

Your voices break and falter in the darkness, — 
Break, falter, and are still ! 

And veiled and mystic, like the Host descending, 
The sun sinks from the hill 1 




THE FIRST SHIP TO ENTER THE GOLDEN GATE. 



THE ship San Carlos was the first to sail through 
the Golden Gate into the harbor of San Fran- 
cisco. Drake, Cabrillo, Vizcaino, had all drifted by 
the bay locked in among the hills. 

The Bay of San Francisco was first discovered by 
Portala and his land party, who were looking for 
the Bay of Monterey. The date was November 2, 
1769, over two hundred years after Drake and Ca- 
brillo had sailed along the coast of California. 

It was not, however, until August 5, 1775, that a 
ship entered the narrow straits. The San Carlos 
left Monterey under instruc- 
tions to sail to the port of 
San Francisco and make a 
survey. 

Ayala, the commander, set 
sail. The ship crept cau- 
tiously along the shore. It 
was nine days before the 
men on the ship saw the 
seal rocks and heard the sea- 
lions. 

61 



Reference Topics. 

The Sau Carlos. 
Overland Journey of 

Tatlier Crespi. 
The Ships that Sailed 

hy the Golden Gate, 
i^ross on Point L-o- 

bos. 
Survey of the Bay. 
Angel Island. 
Some of the Changes 

that have taken 

place. 



62 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



A launch was sent ahead to explore the narrow 
passage, now known as the Golden Gate. The men 
in the little boat sailed in against the fog that 
mantled the hills on either side. Ayala followed 
with his ship. At night he anchored in the bay, 
having safely passed through the straits. 

The next morning the ship San Carlos was moored 
at an island, now called Angel Island. 

It w\as a delightful place. The picturesque sur- 
roundings, the springs of pure water, the chaparral, 

_ coves, and pebbly 

beach gave it un- 

- usual attractions 

for the sailors. 

The launch was 
used in sailing 
about the main 
body of the bay 
and along its out- 
stretched arms, the 
rivers, San Pablo and the smaller bays. 

At Mission Bay, now mostly filled up and built 
over, they saw three Indians, who were weeping, or 
making noises resembling crying, and for this 
reason the cove was named 

" The Cove op Weepers." 

A cross had been planted by the land party a few 




Seal Rocks. 



FIRST SHIP TO ENTER THE GOLDEN GATE. 63 

years before on the sand dunes of Point Lobos. At 
its foot Ayala ordered two letters deposited, one de- 
scribing his successful entrance to, and survey of, the 
Bay of San Francisco, the other giving notice of his 



^ 





Mount Tamalpais from the Bay. 

return to Monterey, and asking tliat if the land 
party, which he expected, should arrive, to build a 
fire in sight of Angel Island. The party arrived, 
the fire was lighted, but no response came back. 

These men camped by the side of a lake, and 
gave it the name which it bears to this day — Lake 
Merced- — in honor of " Our Lady of Mercy." 



64 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



The ship San Carlos had remained for forty days 
in the Bay of San Francisco. It had taken posses- 
sion, Ayala reported, of the best port of Spain. It 
now sailed out of the harbor and down to Monterey. 

Since then, thousands of ships have sailed in 
and out through the Golden Gate. Flags of every 
nation have been wafted to the breezes of the bay. 
The gate stands unguarded, save by the red, white, 
and blue of "Old Glory," that floats over the Pre- 
sidio more as a welcome than as a menace. 



BLACKBOARD WORDS. 

Launch (liinch), menace (nien'es), chaparral (chii'par- 
ral'), cautiously (kaw'shus-ly), Point Lobos (point lo'bos), 
Ayala (ii-ya'lii), pebbly) peb'bli), Vizcaino (ves-ka-ee'no). 




THE DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 



GENERAL Pike, who was killed in the last war 
with England while leading his troops into 
Canada, was, perhaps, the first real discoverer of the 
Rocky Mountains to the south (1805-6), as Pike's 
Peak will forever testify, but he was preceded by 
still more intrepid men, if possible, away up in the 
far north (1803). 

Their path lay across what the Indians called 
the "Shining Mountains" and what now is the 
gold fields of Montana. They 
passed within hailing dis- 
tance of the spot where Hel- 
ena, the capital of Montana, 
now stands. 

Strange they did not dis- 
cover gold ; for the great 
journal of Lewis and Clark 
speaks of quartz and of sil- 
ver and signs of gold. 

This great expedition, the 
first to cross the Rocky 
Mountains, is known in his- 



Refereiice Topics. 

Pike's Peak. 

Buffaloes. 

A Bear Fight. 

Tlie River of the 

West. 
The Indians of the 

Columbia. 
The First Christmas 

on the Shores of the 

Pacific. 
The Return of tlie 

Party. 
Le^wis and Clark. 
Thomas Jefferson. 



65 



66 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



tory as the Lewis and Clark expedition, and was 
made up of Captain Lewis, of the U. S. army, and 
Captain Clark, also of the army, and in direct com- 
mand of the men in hand, consisting of nine young 
citizens of Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of the army, 

two French watermen, a 
hunter, an interpreter, 
and a black servant of 
Captain Clark's. 

When the expedition 
got to the Missouri River 
the Spanish comman- 
dant of all that vast re- 
gion reaching up from 
what is now Louisiana, 
not having yet had offi- 
cial information that we 
had any rights there, 
refused to let them pass, 
and so the party win- 
tered at the mouth of 
Wood River. 

Now, it is but right to 
give some credit to a certain Mr. Carver, of Boston, 
as we go along, for having in some sort preceded 
Lewis and Clark a little ways; for he left a map 
and the following note, dated 1774: 

" From the intelligence I gained from the Wau- 



Lewls, MeriTvetlier, ex- 
plorer, was born near Char- 
lottesville, Va,, August 18, 1774. 
He was a grand-nephew of 
Fielding Lewis, who married a 
sister of General Washington. 
At the age of twenty, he vol- 
unteered to assist in putting 
down Shay's Rebe-lion. He af- 
terwards became private sec- 
retary to President Jefferson, 
and was sent out by Congress 
to explore the continent to the 
Pacific. With William Clark 
and a company of thirty-four 
men, he left Washington, July 
5, 1808, and beheld the Pacific 
Ocean on November 7, 1805. 

Their discoveries were made 
a special message to Congress 
in 1807. Lewis was appointed 
governor of Missouri, and 
served with distinction. He 
committed suicide on his way 
to Washington, October, 1809. 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



67 



my 


own 


I 


have 


the 


four 


rivers on 


of 


North 



dowessie Indians, whose language I perfectly ob- 
tained during a residence of five months, and also 
from the accounts I afterwards obtained from the 
Assinipoils, who speak the Chippeway language 
and inhabit the heads of the River Bourbon ; I say, 

from these nations, to- r- 

gether with 
observations, 
learned that 
most capital 
the continent 
America, namely: the St. 
Lawrence, the Mississip- 
pi, the River Bourbon, 
and the Oregon, or the 
River of the West, have 
their sources in the same 
neighborhood. The w^a- 
ters of the three former 
are within thirty miles 
of each other; the latter, 
however, is rather far- 
ther west." ' 

But, of course, Lewis and Clark were the real dis- 
coverers of the head-waters of these great rivers, and 
we must proceed with them. They w^ere equipped 
with the steel frames of great boats, one of them fifty- 
five feet long. These frames they finally covered with 



Clark, Winiam, was born 
in Virginia, August 1, 1770. He 
entered the army in 1792, but, 
after four years' service, had to 
resign, on account of ill health. 
In 1803, Lewis chose him as his 
assistant in explorations of the 
continent. 

After his return from the 
journey of nearly 8C00 miles, 
Jefferson nominated him as 
lieutenant-colonel of the Sec- 
ond Infantry, but the Senate 
failed to confirm him. Later, 
he acted as Indian agent, with 
headquarters at St. Louis. In 
1812, he declined an appoint- 
ment as brigadier-general. 
Madison appointed him gov- 
ernor of Missouri, which posi- 
tion he held until its admis- 
sion into the Union, in 1821, 
when he failed to be elected as 
first governor. He then served 
as Indian agent until the time 
of his death, September 1, 1838. 



68 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

the skins of buffalo sewed together, and with these 
worked their way up the Missouri, taking a whole 
year to get within hearing of the great falls. 

They carried many presents, seeds, beads, blankets, 
and all sorts of things that might be useful or pleas- 
ing to savages, and never in all their first years had 
any trouble with them. Some Indians had fine 
gardens and were very nearly civilized, according 
to the volumes of the great journal, which gives a 
daily account of everything seen or heard. Here 
is an account of a great feast there: 

*^As soon as we were seated, an old man got up, 
and, after approving what we had done, begged 
us to take pity on their unfortunate situation. To 
this we replied with assurances of 23rotection. 

"After he had ceased, the great chief arose and 
delivered an harangue to the same eff'ect; then, with 
great solemnity, he took some of the most delicate 
parts of the dog which was cooked for the festival 
and held it to the flag by way of sacrifice; this done, 
he held up the pipe of peace, and first pointed it 
towards the heavens, then to the four quarters of 
the globe, and then to the earth, made a short 
speech, lighted the pipe, and presented it to us. 

"We smoked, and he again harangued his people, 
after which the repast was served up to us. It con- 
sisted of the dog which they had just been cooking, 
this being a great dish among the Sioux, and used 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 69 

on all festivals; to this were added pemmican, a 
dish made of buffalo meat, dried or jerked, and then 
pounded and mixed raw with grease, and a kind of 
ground potato, dressed like the preparation of Indian 
corn called hominy, to which it is little inferior. 

'' Of all these luxuries that were placed before us 
on platters, with horn spoons, we took the pemmican 
and potato, which we found good, but we could, as 
yet, partake but sparingly of the dog." 

But while there was no trouble with Indians to 
speak of on this outward inarch, they were con- 
stantly battling with the most formidable and 
ferocious bears ever heard of. 

These were mostly the same as what is now called 
the California grizzly. But even the brown bears 
of the Rocky Mountains were terrible. Here is the 
journal's account of a battle with a brown bear: 

"Towards evening (on the 14th) the men in the 
hindmost canoe discovered a large brown bear lying 
in the open grounds, about three hundred paces 
from the river. Six of them, all good hunters, 
immediately went to attack him, and, concealing 
themselves by a small eminence, came unperceived 
within forty paces of him. 

"Four of the hunters now fired, and each lodged 
a ball in his body, two of them directly through 
the lungs. The furious animal sprang up and ran 
open-mouthed upon them. 



70 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

"As he came near, the two hunters who had 
reserved their fire gave him two wounds, one of 
wliich, breaking liis shoulder, retarded his motion 
for a moment ; but before they could reload, he 
was so near that they were obliged to run to the 
river, and before they had reached it he had almost 
overtaken them. Two jumped into the canoe; the 
other four separated, and, concealing themselves 
in the willows, fired as fast as they could reload. 

''They struck him several times; but, instead of 
weakening the monster, each shot seemed only to 
direct him towards the hunters, till at last he pur- 
sued tw^o of them so closely that they threw aside 
tlieir pouches and guns, and jumped down a per- 
pendicular bank of twenty feet into the river. 

"The bear sprang after them, and was within a 
few feet of the hindmost, when one of the hunters 
on shore shot the beast in the head and finally killed 
him. They dragged him to the shore, and found 
that eight balls had passed through him in different 
directions. The bear was old, and the meat tough, 
so that they took the skin only, and rejoined us at 
camp." * 



* When you bear in mind that these reports are official, and made by 
United States army officers, who made it a point of honor to state things 
exactly as they took place, you will understand that these few men had 
a verv lively time ; for nearly every day they had some sort of adventure 
with wild animals. The buffalo were so numerous that they often had 
to take care to keep out of their way, for fear of being trampled to death. 



I)Isco^^H:RY of the rocky mountains. 



1 



Here, under date of May 29, 1804, we read : 
'^ May 29. Last night we were alarmed by a new 
sort of enemy. A buffalo swam over from the 
opposite side and to the spot where lay one of our 
canoes, over which he clambered to the shore. 

" Then taking fright, he ran full speed up the 
bank towards our fires, and passed within eighteen 




m 




Among the Buffaloes. 

inches of the heads of some of the men befdre the 
sentinel could make him change his course. 

"Still more alarmed, he ran down between our 
fires, within a few inches of the heads of a second 
row of the men, and would have broken into our 
lodge if the barking of the dog had not stopped him. 



72 WESTERN SERIES OF READE:RS. 

"He suddenly turned to the right and was out of 
sight in a moment, every one seizing his rifle and 
inquiring the cause of alarm. On learning what 
had happened, we had to rejoice at suffering no 
more injury than some damage to the guns that 
were in the canoe which the buffalo crossed." 

The whole region, as far as the eye could reach, 
up, down, right, or left, was one vast undulating 
world of wild beasts and roving bands of Indians, 
with here and there a patch of corn, and melons, 
and pumpkins along the low, sandy river banks. 
These primitive fields were tended by squaws. 

Their implements for tilling the soil were sticks 
and elks' horns, hardened in the fire. But all this 
now is a world of homes and harvest-fields. At last 
the great falls of the Missouri were reached. The 
men were now in the heart of the continent. 

It would have taken them longer to reach home 
than it would take a man to go man}^ times around 
the world in our day. But for all their long absence 
and distance from home, they exulted in each great 
discovery, hoisted a new flag, and fired guns. 

Hear their own account of it. 

^^ June H, This morning one of the men was 
sent to Captain Clark with an account of the dis- 
covery of the falls. Captain Lewis proceeded to 
examine the rapids. From the falls he directed his 
course southwest, up the river. 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 73 

''After passing one continued rapid and three cas- 
cades, each three or four feet high, he reached, at 
the distance of five miles, a second fall. The river 
is here about four hundred yards wide, and for the 
distance of three hundred, rushes down to the 
depth of nineteen feet, and so irregularly that he 
gave it the name of Crooked Falls'. 

"From the southern shore it extends obliquely 
upward about one hundred and fifty yards, and 
then forms an acute angle downward, nearly to the 
commencement of four small islands, close to the 
northern side. From the perpendicular pitch to 
these islands, a distance of more than one hundred 
yards, the water glides down a sloping rock, with a 
velocity almost equal to that of its fall. 

"Above this fall the river bends suddenly to the 
northward. While viewing this place Captain Lewis 
heard a loud roar above liiin, and, crossing the 
point of a hill a few hundred yards, he saw one of 
the most beautiful objects in nature. The whole 
Missouri River is suddenly stopped by one shelving 
rock, which, without a single niche, and with an 
edge as straight and regular as if formed by art, 
stretches itself from one side of the river to the other 
for at least a quarter of a mile. 

"Over this it precipitates itself in an even, unin- 
terrupted sheet, to the perpendicular depth of fifty 
feet, whence, dashing against the rocky bottom, it 



74 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

rushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a sheet of 
the purest foam across the river. The scene which 
it presented was indeed singularly beautiful. 

^' Just below the falls is a little island in the mid- 
dle of the river, well covered with timber. Here, 
on a Cottonwood tree, an eagle had fixed its nest, 
and was the undisputed mistress of a spot where 
neither man nor beast would venture across the 
gulfs that surround it. 

''This solitary bird did not escape the observa- 
tion of the Indians, who made the eagle's nest a part 
of their description of the falls. Captain Lewis now 
ascended the hill behind him, and saw from its top 
a delightful plain, extending from the river to the 
base of the snowy mountains. 

''Along this wide, level country, the Missouri 
pursued its winding course, while about four miles 
above it was joined by a large river flowing from 
the northwest. The Missouri itself stretches to the 
south in an unruffled stream of water, as if uncon- 
scious of the roughness it must soon encounter, and 
bearing on its bosom vast flocks of geese, while nu- 
merous herds of buffalo are feeding on the plains 
which surround it. 

"Captain Lewis then descended the hill. He 
soon met a herd of at least a thousand buffalo, and 
bein^ desirous of providing for supper, shot one of 
them. 



DISCOVERY OP THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 75 

"The animal immediately began to bleed, and 
Captain Lewis, who had forgotten to reload his 
rifle was intently watching to see him fall, when he 
beheld a large brown bear stealing up to him, and 
was already within twenty steps. In the first mo- 
ment of surprise he lifted his rifle, but, remember- 
ing that it was not charged, and that he had no 
time to reload, he felt that there was no safety but 
in flight. 

" It was in the open, level plain, not a bush nor 
a tree within three hundred yards; the bank of 
the river sloping, and not more than three feet 
high, so that there was no possible mode of conceal- 
ment. 

" Captain Lewis then thought of retreating with 
a quick walk, towards the nearest tree; but, as soon 
as he turned, the bear rushed, open-mouthed and 
at full speed, upon him. The captain ran about 
eighty yards, but finding the animal gained on him 
fast, decided on getting into the water to such a 
depth that the bear would be obliged to attack him 
swimming. He, therefore, turned short, plunged 
into the river about waist deep, and, facing about, 
presented the point of his spontoon. 

"The bear arrived at the water's edge, but became 
frightened, wheeled about, and retreated with as 
much precipitation as he had advanced. Very glad 
to be released from this danger. Captain Lewis 



76 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

returned to the shore, and saw the bear running 
with great speed, sometimes looking back, as if he 
expected to be pursued, till he reached the woods. 

"He could not conceive the cause of the sudden 
alarm of the bear, but congratulated himself on his 



The Sierra in the Distance. 

escape, and learned from the adventure never to 
allow his rifle to be for a moment unloaded." 

Far, far up the Missouri River, in the heart of 
the Rocky Mountains, they had to walk up the 
rugged banks, and leave their last remaining little 
boats, having buried the big ones under heaps of 
stones in the river, to be used on their return. Thev 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 77 

found the rattlesnakes so numerous and vicious 
that the men had to bind their legs in thongs. 

Late in August they stood on the topmost reach 
of the Rocky Mountains. Bear in mind, the moun- 
tains here are now green fields and harvest-fields. 
Do not let the idea prevail that the country on the 
top of the Rocky Mountains is rugged. Strange to 
say, these mountains, unlike our Sierras, may be 
crossed easily, and almost anywhere that snow is 
not encountered. Here is the record of August 12, 
1805 : 

" They had now reached the hidden source of that 
river, which had never before been seen by civilized 
man; and as they quenched their thirst at the 
chaste and icy fountain, as they sat down by the 
brink of the little river, which yielded its distant 
and modest tribute to the parent ocean, they felt 
themselves rewarded for all their labors and all 
their difficulties. They reluctantly left this inter- 
esting spot, and, pursuing the Indian road through 
the interval of the hills, arrived at the top of a 
ridge, from which they saw high mountains, par- 
tially covered with snow, still to the west of them. 
The ridge on which they stood formed the dividing 
line between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific 
Oceans." 

After crossing the mountains, the party sufi*ered 
terribly from cold, hunger, and heartsickness ; for 



78 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

the country was, and still is, desolate indeed for a 
long distance, made much longer to them from 
want of guides and any good idea how to reach 
the navigable waters of the Oregon (now called 
the Columbia) Eiver. More than once they had 
only horse-meat. Finally, they had to buy dogs 
to eat. 

When they got down the head-waters of the 
Columbia, to what is now the Nez Perce (Pierced 
Nose) tribe, of whom the famous Chief Joseph is 
now leader, they fared very well; and, leaving 
their horses with the Indians, they bought canoes, 
and dashed on down the river toward the great 
Pacific Ocean. Here follows the record of the first 
Christmas ever held by Americans on the shore of 
the Pacific Ocean: 

^^ Dec. 25. We were awakened at daylight by a 
discharge of firearms, which was followed by a 
song from the men, as a compliment to us on the 
return of Christmas, which we have always been 
accustomed to observe as a day of rejoicing. After 
breakfast, we divided our remaining stock of tobacco 
into two parts, one of which we distributed among 
such of the party as made use of it, making a present 
of a handkerchief to the others. 

"The remainder of the day was passed in good 
spirits, though there was nothing in our situation- 
to excite much gayety. The rain confined us to 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 79 

the house, and our only luxuries in honor of the 
season were some poor elk-meat (so much spoiled 
that we ate it through mere necessity), a few roots, 
and some moldy pounded fish." 

The men were starving; many of them were very 
ill ; but still they did not lose heart, but, as we shall 
see, hailed the new year with thanksgiving and 
gratitude. Here is the journal's account of the first 
"New Year's" ever celebrated under the American 
flag on this coast : 

" Jan. 1, 1806. We were awaked at an early 
hour by the discharge of a volley of small arms, to 
salute the new year. This was the only mode of 
commemorating the day which our situation per- 
mitted; for, though we had reasons to be gayer 
than we were at Christmas, our only dainties were 
boiled elk and wappatoo, enlivened by draughts of 
pure water. 

" We were visited by a few Clatsops, who came by 
water, bringing roots and berries for sale. Among 
this nation we observed a man about twenty-five 
years old, of a much lighter complexion than the 
Indians generally. His face was even freckled, and 
his hair long and of a color inclining to red. 

"He was in habits and manners perfectly Indian; 
but, though he did not speak a word of English, he 
seemed to understand more than the others of his 
party ; and, as we could obtain no account of his 



80 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

origin, we concluded that one of his parents at 
least must have been white." 

Many explorations were made up the many rivers. 
At one place, where Oregon City now stands, they 
found a large Indian village, with not a human being 
in sight, all having suddenly died from some plague. 

At last their work was done. Rivers had been 
explored, valleys were measured, mountains had 
been climbed and classified, and given place on 
the maps of the republic. The men had a right 
to return. These men, who had been so long from 
home, and out of reach of all signs of civilization, 
were now "hairy men." They were clothed en- 
tirely in the skins of wild beasts; their beards 
fell in matted masses on their breasts; their hair 
blew about their shoulders in the wind. They 
were a wild-looking lot as they lifted their faces 
once more to the rising sun, and set out to retrace 
their steps up the Oregon River, over the Rockies, 
and down the yellow Missouri. 

All along through the journal we find such en- 
tries as these: "To-day bought three more dogs, 
and dried their flesh by the fire to take with us." 
At one place we read of them buying twenty dogs. 
At first they did not kill them at once, but took 
them along with them alive. The dogs, however, 
were too much given to getting out, so they had to 
"jerk" them. 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



81 



The Indians were, for the most part, dirty and 
thievish. Their teeth were worn down to the gums 
from eating fish that had been dried on the sand; 
their eyes were red and weak from sand-storms; 
and they followed the white men about like chil- 



1 




Wind River Mountains — The Highest Peak in the Rockies, where 

Fremont Placed the Flag. 

dren, begging for a sort of eye-water which Captain 
Clark compounded out of sugar of lead. 

As the party readied the Rocky Mountains on 
their return, they divided, one going up one branch 
of the Columbia (or Oregon) River, and the other 
party up the other branch, to meet at the mouth of 
the Yellowstone River, about one hundred miles 
from what is now the great Yellowstone Park. 
Strangely enough, they did not see or hear of the 



82 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

marvels there; and one can but wonder if they are 
not, comparatively, of recent date. 

I take pleasure in stating that these great 
explorers found no trouble with Indians on their 
outward journey; but now, as they returned and 
neared the tribes that afterward destroyed the brave 
General Custer and his men, they barely escaped 
with their lives. Here is their account of the ugly 
affair: 

" July 27. The Indians got up at sunrise and 
crowded around the fire, near which J. Fields, who 
was then on watch, had carelessly left his rifle by 
the head of his brother, who was still asleep. 

''One of the Indians slipped behind him, and, 
unperceived, took his brother's and his own rifle, 
while at the same time two others seized those of 
Drewyer and Captain Lewis. As soon as Fields 
turned round, he saw the Indian running off with 
the rifles, and, instantly calling his brother, they 
pursued him for fifty yards, and, just as they over- 
took him, in the scuffle R. Fields stabbed him 
through the heart witli his knife. He ran about 
fifteen feet and fell dead. They now hastened back 
with their rifles to the camp. 

"As the Indian seized Drewyer's rifle, he jumped 
up and wrested it from him. The noise awoke 
Captain Lewis, who started from the ground and 
reached to seize his gun, but, finding it gone, he 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 83 

drew a pistol from his belt, and, turning about, saw 
an Indian running off with it. Lewis followed and 
ordered him to lay it down, which he did. 

''Just then the Fields came up, and were taking 
aim to shoot him, but Captain Lewis ordered them 
not to fire, as the Indian did not appear to mean 
any mischief. On finding that the Indians were 
attempting to drive off the horses, Lewis ordered 
the men to follow the main party, who were chasing 
the horses up the river, and to fire instantly upon 
the thieves, while he pursued two Indians who were 
driving away horses on the left of the camp. 

''He pressed them so closely that they left twelve 
of their own horses, but continued to drive off one 
of ours. They entered a steep niche in the river 
bluffs, when Captain Lewis called out, as he had 
done several times before, that unless they gave 
up the horse he would shoot them. 

"As he raised his gun one of the Indians jumped 
behind a rock, but the other was shot. He fell 
on his knees, but raising himself a little, fired at 
Lewis, and then crawled behind a rock. Tlie shot 
very nearly proved fatal to Captain Lewis, and, as 
he was almost exhausted with fatigue, thought it 
most prudent not to attack them further, and retired 
to the camp, 

"The Fields and Drewyer had returned to camp 
and all were soon ready to leave. They knew there 



84 WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 

was no time to be lost ; for they would doubtless be 
pursued by a larger body of Indians, who would 
hasten to the mouth of Maria's River to intercept 
them." 

The record of the last two days in this most 
remarkable journal of the most notable expedition 
that has ever been, perhaps, is as follows: 

^^ September 22. When the rain having ceased, 
we set out for Cold water Creek, about three miles 
from the mouth of the Missouri, where we found a 
cantonment of the United States troops, with whom 
we passed the day. 

^^ September 23. Descended the Mississippi and 
round to St. Louis, at which place we arrived at 
12 o'clock, and, having fired a salute, went on shore, 
where we received a most hearty and hospitable 
welcome from the whole village." 

Captain William Clark was a Virginian, born in 
1770. He was, after this expedition, promoted to 
brigadier-general, and two years later was made 
governor of Missouri. He died at St. Louis in 1838, 
universally lamented and beloved for his brave, 
gentle, and generous disposition, and his devotion 
to his great country. 

His companion in this bold expedition, Captain 
Meriwether Lewis, was also a Virginian, born in 
1774. He was private secretary to President Jeffer- 
son in 1801, and the President trusted him entirely 



DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



85 



in the great work on which he was sent. Jefferson 
wrote a memoir of the explorer and extolled his 
merit. 

He was the first governor of Missouri after the 
return. But his mind had been greatly broken 
from long exposure, and being subject to tempor- 
ary fits of insanity, committed suicide two years 
later. 

BLACKBOARD AVORDS. 

Interpreter (in-ter'pr^t-er), Missouri (mis-soo'ree), tiou- 
isiana (loo-ee-ze-ah'na), Wapatoo (vvap-a-too), Sioux (soo), 
equipped (e-kwipf), official (6f-fish'al). 



OTHOTT, my best beloved! my pride, my boast; 
Stretching thy glorious length along the West, 
Within the girdle of thj'- snn-lit coast, 

From pine to j)alm, fron\ palm to snowy crest. 

— Charles Warren Stoddard. 



wKlPlf''"'?iiaiBl 




-pillii 



THE STORY OF THE DONNER PARTY. 



THE covered wagons were packed with food, goods, 
and articles useful in the life of the early 
pioneer. The oxen were yoked, and stood lazily 
waiting the driver's order. The children had said 
good-by, and, as they climbed up on the wagons, 
shouted, " Ho I for California ! '' 

Then the heavy wagons started, and the Donner 
party began the long, perilous journey toward the 
Pacific. It was early in April, 1846, that George 
and Jacob Donner and James F. Reed formed the 
train which was to cross the plains. The journey 
began with bright hopes. It 
was known that the roads 
were difficult; that Indians 
might attack them; that 
great deserts would have to 
be crossed, and roads would 
have to be found over rough 
mountains. 

These were the days of 
brave men and women. Fa- 
thers and mothers were full 

86 



Reference Topics. 

An Emigrant Train. 
Tlie Desert. 
Tlie Sierra. 
Donner Lake. 
Sutter's Fort. 
The SuflPeriugs of the 

Donner Party. 
The Kelief Parties. 
The Tourist Cars vs. 

Eniiarrant Trains. 
The Pioneers. 



THE STORY OF TPIE DONNER PARTY. 87 

of courage; lovers were full of hope; children were 
full of glee. The bleaching bones of cattle, and 
here and there a rude cross over a newly made 
mound, along the emigrant road, did not change 
either their courage, hope, or joy. 

Fair, young California was before these people, — 
its rich valleys, its pine-clad Sierra, its rivers and 
matchless sea. 

After the Donner party left Independence, Mis- 
souri, it was joined by others, until it contained 
between two and three hundred wagons, and was, 
when in motion, two miles in length. The great 
train succeeded in reaching Fort Bridger, a trading- 
post, without much trouble. 

On one occasion, Mary Graves, a beautiful young 
lady, was riding on horseback with her brother. 
They were in the rear of the train. A band of 
Sioux Indians fell in love with the maiden, and 
offered to purchase her; but the brother was not 
willing to sell. 

One of the Indians seized the bridle of the girl's 
horse, and attempted to capture her. The brother 
leveled his rifle at the savage, and he promptly gave 
a war-whoop and rode away. 

At another place a division arose among the 
emigrants; some wanted to rest the stock and hunt 
buffaloes, and secure a larger supply of jerked meat. 
Others wanted to go on, for fear the grass would 



88 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

be eaten off by the stock of other trains. It was 
decided to go forward. 

At Fort Bridger, the Donner party chose a new 
route, called the '' Hastings Cut-off." Those who 
went by the old route reached California in 
safety. 

The trials of the Donner party now began in 
earnest. Instead of reaching Salt Lake in one week, 
it was over thirty days, and the stock and men were 
exhausted. The beautiful Salt Lake Valley, how- 
ever, filled them with joy, and all hoped for a peace- 
ful, prosperous journey to California. 

In crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert severe 
hardships were endured. The suffering of the stock 
for water was great. 

Some teamsters unhitched the oxen from Jacob 
Reed's wagons and drove them ahead for water. 
The desert mirage deceived the oxen, and even the 
men, and the cattle rushed off into the pathless 
desert and never returned — the desert — 

" God must have made it ia his anger and forgot." 

The men went tramping through the sand and over 
the sagebrush, calling "Co, Boss! Co-o-o, Bo-bo- 
boss ! — Soo-ok, Jer-ry — Soo-ook, sook, Jerry ! " 

No answer came. The loneliness of the desert 
was increased as the sound of their voices died 
away in the vast solitude. Reed was forced to 



THE STORY OF THE DONNER PARTY. Q\) 

cache"^ the goods in his wagons and proceed with 
an ox and a cow. 

Wliile the party was camped on the edge of the 
desert, it was made known that the provisions would 
not last until California was reached. 

It was decided to send two men ahead to secure 
provisions and return. C. T. Stanton and William 
McCutcheon decided to go. A tearful farewell was 
taken, and the two brave men rode out on the dim 
trail for California. They carried letters to Captain 
Sutter, of Sutter's Fort. 

At Gravelly Ford, on the Humboldt River, a 
tragedy occurred. In trying to ascend a hill where 
it was required to hitch five or six yoke of oxen to 
a wagon, Reed and a popular young man, by the 
name of John Snyder, became engaged in a fierce 
quarrel. 

C. F. McGlashan t gives this account of the aff'ray : 

" When Reed saw that trouble was likely to occur, 
he said something about waiting until they got up 
the hill, and settle the matter afterwards. Snyder, 
who took this as a threat, replied, ' We will settle 
it now.' He struck Reed a blow on the head with 
the butt-end of liis heavy whipstock. The blow 
was followed in rapid succession by a second and 
a third. 



*A term used by the pioneers when they buried anything of Aalue. 
t History of the Donner Party, 



90 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

''As the third stroke descended, Mrs. Reed ran 
between her husband and the furious man, hoping 
to prevent the blow. Each time the whipstock 
descended on Reed's head it cut deep gashes. He 
was blinded with the blood which streamed from 
his wounds, and dazed and stunned by the terrific 
force of the blows. He saw the cruel whipstock 
uplifted, and knew that his wife was in danger, but 
only had time to cry 'John! John!' when down 
came the stroke full upon Mrs. Reed's head and 
shoulders. The next instant John Snyder was 
staggering speechless and death-stricken. 

" Patrick Breen came up, and Snyder said : ' Uncle, 
I am dead.' Reed's knife had entered his lung. 
Snyder's death fell like a thunderbolt on the Donner 
party." 

Reed was banished from the train. At first he 
refused to go ; but the feeling against him was so 
strong that he yielded to the pleadings of his wife 
and daughter. He was to go without provisions, 
or even a gun; but his twelve-year-old daughter, 
Virginia, supplied them. 

As the train moved forward, Mrs. Reed and Vir- 
ginia would look at every little camping-place for 
a message from him. He rode toward California, 
and when he succeeded in killing geese or ducks 
he would spread the feathers about in such a way 
that it would be a message to his family, and some- 



THE STORY OF THE DONNER PARTY. 91 

times would leave letters pinned to the sage- 
brush. 

A day came, however, when they found no mes- 
sage, no letter, or trace of the father. Was he dead? 
Had he starved? Had the Indians killed him? 
Mrs. Reed grew pale and worried. Then, she knew 
that if she died her children might perish. With 
a brave heart she roused herself, and with noble 
devotion cared for her children.* 

Near the present town of Wadsworth, Nevada, 
Stanton, who had been sent on ahead, returned from 
Sutter's Fort with provisions. He brought seven 
mules, five of which were loaded with dried beef and 
flour. If Stanton had not brought these provisions, 
the whole company would surely have perished. 

It was now late in October. If the party had 
pushed right on, the Sierra could have been crossed 
before the storm season. Another relief party was 
sent forward. C. F. McGlashan thus describes the 
approach to the Sierra: 

" Generally, the ascent of the Sierra brought joy 
and gladness to weary overland emigrants. To the 
Donner party it brought terror and dismay. 

''Tl]e company had hardly obtained a glimpse of 
the mountains, ere the winter storm-clouds began 

*Mr. Reed reached California, and returned to Donner Lake to rescue 
his family and aid the others. He lived at San Jose many years, a 
respected and useful citizen. 



92 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



to assemble their hosts around the loftier crests. 
Every day the weather appeared more ominous and 
threatening. The delay at the Truckee Meadows 
had been brief, but every day ultimately cost a 
dozen lives. 

" On the 23d of October, they became thoroughly 
alarmed at the angry heralds of the gathering 




f 



ir^^- 



Donner Lake in V/inter. 



storm, and with all haste resumed the journe}^ It 
was too late ! 

"At Prosser Creek, three miles below Truckee, 
they found themselves encompassed with six inches 



THE STORY OF THE CONNER PARTY. 93 

of snow. On the summits the snow was from two 
to five feet in depth. This was October 28, 1846. 
Almost a month earlier than usaal, the Sierra had 
donned its mantle of ice and snow. 

" The party were prisoners. All was consterna- 
tion. The wildest confusion prevailed. In their 
eagerness, many went off in advance of the main 
train. There was little concert of action or har- 
mony of plan. All did not arrive at Donner Lake 
the same day. Some wagons and families did 
not reach the lake until the olst day of October; 
some never went farther than Prosser Creek, while 
others, on the evening of the 29th, struggled through 
the snow, and reached the foot of the precipitous 
cliffs between the summit and the upper end of the 
lake. Here, baffled, wearied, and disheartened, they 
turned back to the foot of the lake." 

Several attempts were made to cross the moun- 
tain, but without success. Realizing that the winter 
must be passed in the mountains, arrangements 
were made for food, by killing the cattle and build- 
ing shelters. The following is a description of the 
Breen cabin : 

It was built of pine saplings, and roofed with 
pine brush and rawhides. It was twelve by four- 
teen feet, and seven or eight feet high, with a chim- 
ney in one end, built "Western style." One 
opening, through which light, air, and the occu- 



94 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

pants passed, served as a window and door. Two 
days were spent in its construction. 

Patrick Dolan, a brave, generous Irishman, gave 
all of his food to the Reed family, and started with 
C. T. Stanton and thirteen others to cross the 
Sierra on foot. 

Before they left, one man had already died of 
starvation. Matters were desperate. The party 
only dared take six days' rations. The first day 
the party traveled four miles, the next, six. 

They crossed the summit. The camp of the 
party was no longer visible. They were alone 
among the high snow -peak battlements of the 
Sierra. The situation was terrible. The great 
snowshoes exhausted them. The heroic Stanton, 
became so bUnd that it was difficult for him to pro- 
ceed. The agony of blindness wrung no cry from 
his lips. He could no longer keep up with the 
rest of the company. 

One evening he staggered into camp, long after 
the others had finished their pitiful supper. lie 
said little. In the silence of his heart he knew he 
had reached the end of his journey. 

In the morning some one said to him, kindly, 
"Are you coming?" 

"Yes; I am coming soon." These were his last 
words. He died alone, amid the snow of the High 
Sierra. 



THE STORY OF THE DONNER PARTY. 95 

A terrible storm arose. The people were without 
food. Unless their hunger was allayed, all would 
die. Some one proposed to prolong their lives by 
eating human flesh. It was decided to draw slips, 
and the one who got the longest was to die. Patrick 
Dolan got the fatal slip. No one would take Dolan's 
life. It was not necessary; for hunger had done its 
terrible work. 

Several of the party, including Dolan, died, and 
the others lived on the flesh of the dead until they 
came to an Indian rancheria. The savages were 
amazed. It is said that the Indian women cried 
with grief at the pitiful spectacle of the starved 
men and women. 

They were given bread made from acorns, and 
the Indians were very kind to them. But the acorn 
bread did not strengthen them. They were now in 
full view of the Sacramento Valley, in all its beauty 
and loveliness, and yet were dying ! 

At last one, stronger than the others, went on 
ahead to Johnson's Ranch, and sent back food to 
the others. Of the fifteen who had started from 
Donner Lake, only seven lived to reach Johnson's 
Ranch. 

Word reached Sutter's Fort that men, women, and 
children were starving at Donner Lake, and Captain 
Sutter sent a relief party at once. 

The i^eople who camped at the lake suffered the 



96 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

pangs of hunger. One of the survivors, writing, 
said : '' The families shared with one another as 
long as they had anything to share. Each one's 
portion was very small. The hides were boiled, 
and the bones were browned and eaten. We tried 
to eat a decayed buffalo robe, but it was too tough 
and there was no nourishment in it. Some of the 
few mice that came into camp were caught and eaten. 

"Some days we could not keep a fire, and many 
times, during both days and nights, snow was 
shoveled from off our tent and from around it, that 
we might not be buried alive. Mother remarked 
one day that it had been two weeks that our beds 
and the clothing upon our bodies had been wet. 

" Two of my sisters and myself spent some days 
at Keseberg's cabin. The first morning we were 
there they shoveled the snow from our bed before 
we could get up. 

" Very few can believe it possible for human 
beings to live and suffer the exposure and hard- 
ships endured there." 

Quoting again from Mr. McGlashan, this touching 
account of Christmas on Donner Lake is given: 

" What a desolate Christmas morning that was 
for the snowbound victims! All were starving. 
Something to eat, something to satisfy the terrible 
cravings of appetite, was the constant wish of all. 
Sometimes the wishes were expressed aloud, but 



THE STORY OF THE DONNER PARTY. 97 

more frequently a gloomy silence prevailed. When 
anything was audibly wished for, it was invariably 
something whose size was proportional to their 
hunger. They never wished for a meal or a mouth- 
ful, but for a barrelful, a wagon-load, a houseful, or 
a storehouseful. 

''On Christmas eve the children spoke in low 
subdued tones of the visits Santa Claus used to 
make them in their beautiful homes before they 
started across the plains. Now they knew that no 
Santa Claus would find them in the pathless depths 
of snow. 

" One family, the Reeds, were in a peculiarly dis- 
tressing situation. They knew not whether their 
father w^as living or dead. No tidings had reached 
them since his letters ceased to be found by the 
wayside. The meat they had obtained from the 
Breen and Graves families was now gone, and on 
Christmas morning their breakfast was a 'pot of 
glue,' as the boiled rawhide was termed. 

"But Mrs. Reed, the dear, tender-hearted mother, 
had a surprise in store for her children this day. 

"When the last ox had been purchased, Mrs. Reed 
had placed the frozen meat in one corner of the 
cabin, so that pieces could be chipped off with a 
knife or hatchet. The tripe, however, she cleaned 
carefully, and hung on the outside of the cabin, on 
the end of a log, close to the ground. * 



y© WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 

"She knew that the snow would soon conceal this 
from view. She also laid away secretly one tea- 
cupful of white beans, about half that quantity of 
rice, the same measure of dried apples, and a piece 
of bacon two inches square. 

"She knew that if Christmas found them alive, 
they would be in a terribly destitute condition. 
She therefore resolved to lay these articles away, 
and to give them to her starving children for a 
Christmas dinner. 

*'Tliis was done. The joy and gladness of these 
four little children knew no bounds wdien they saw 
the treasures unearthed and cooking on the fire. 
They were, just this one meal, to have all they could 
eat! 

" They laughed, and danced, and cried by turns. 
They eagerly watched the dinner as it boiled. The 
pork and tripe had been cut in dice-like pieces. 
Occasionally one of these pieces would boil up to the 
surface of the water for an instant; then a bean 
would take a peep at them from the boiling kettle; 
then a piece of apple or a grain of rice. The ap- 
pearance of each tiny bit w^as hailed by the children 
with shouts of glee. 

"The mother, whose eyes were brimming with 
tears, watched her famished darlings with emotions 
that can only be imagined. It seemed too sad that 
innocetit children should be brought to such desti- 



THE STORY OF THE DONNER PARTY. 99 

tutioii — that the very sight of food should so affect 
them. 

''When the dinner was prepared, the mother's 
constant injunction was, ' Children, eat slowly ; there 
is plenty for all.' When they thought of the starva- 
tion of to-morrow, they could not repress a shade 
of sadness, and when the name of papa was men- 
tioned all burst into tears. 

" Dear, brave papa ! Was he struggling to relieve 
his starving family, or lying stark and dead 'neath 
the snows of the Sierra? This question was con- 
stantly uppermost in the mother's mind." 

Four different relief expeditions went to the 
rescue of the Donner party. Of the ninety who 
comprised the party, forty-two perislied. Those 
who survived became prominent in the history of 
California. The names of Donner, Breen, Murphy, 
Foster, Graves, Reed, Eddy, McCutcheon, and others 
of the party, are well known. 

Donner Lake, calm and peaceful among the sigh- 
ing pines, is often the scene of some tourist's camp. 
Frequently a relic of the days of '46 and '47 is 
found, and it tells a mute story of death and star- 
vation. 

The travelers in palace cars pass over the Sierra, 
near Donner Lake, unmindful of tlie struo^srles of the 
pioneers; that the white peaks of snow on which 
rest the golden afterglow of the sun, were not the 



100 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

holy spires of God's eternal cathedrals, but the cold 
menace of death ! 

The pioneers have fought their last battle with 
the elements. The names of those who have won 
wealth and fame are recorded in history. Let the 
names of the others be engraved with loving sen- 
timent in the hearts of the young. The unnamed 
graves are sometimes typical of the bravest strug- 
gles, the loftiest manhood, and noblest sentiment. 
The race of pioneers is passing away. Let us cher- 
ish their deeds and their strength. It will soon 
be written — 

"The Last Pioneer." 



BLACKBOARD AVORDS. 

Sierra (se-er'ra), route (root, o?- rout), Sutter (sut'er), ran- 
cheria (ran'che-re'a), survivors (sur-viv'ers), provisions 
provizh'uns), exhausted (ggz-iist-gd), destitute (des'ti-tut), 
injunction (in-junk'shun), baffled (baf fid). 









^^^"•' s.^. 



TrtE BEAR-FLAG REPUBLIC 



T sunrise on June 11, 1846, thirteen men 
left Fremont's camp at the Buttes near 
the mouth of the Feather River. 
They were armed with rifles and 
pistols. They crossed the Sacra- 
mento River and made their way 
to Gordon's Ranch on Cache 
Creek. 

Gordon gave the men a bullock, 
which they killed and roasted over 
a big fire. The men had a fine 
supper. They traveled all night. The next day 
nineteen men joined 
them. They rode down 
into the Sonoma Val- 
ley one dark night and 
surrounded the Califor- 
nian settlement, and 
captured the people. 

At this time the Mex- 
icans were called the 
Californians, and the 

101 




Reference Topics. 

The Buttes. 

General Vallejo. 

Fremont. 

Kit Carson. 

Castro. 

Tlie Bear Flag. 

Captain Stoneman. 

Lieutenant Derby. 

Sonoma. 



102 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



Eastern people who had settled in this land were 
called Americans. 

Sonoma is a small town, but it has played an im- 
portant part in the history of California. On June 




Cache Creek. 



.-^ 



14, 1846, there was a mission, a few adobe houses, 
barracks, plaza, residence of General Vallejo, the 
house of Jacob Leese, which was used in after years 
as the headquarters of Colonel Joe Hooker, Major 
Phil Kearny, Captain Stoneman, Lieutenant Derby, 
and others known to fame. 

At daybreak on June 14th, thirty-two men sur- 



THE BEAR-FLAG REPUBLIC. 103 

rounded Vallejo's house. He was roused from his 
bed and taken prisoner. He said: "I surrender, 
because I am without a force to defend me. I ask 
time to dress." 

When he was told that no harm was intended, 
wine was given to the men. The men who went in 
to capture Vallejo stayed so long that those on the 
outside sent a man named Ide to ascertain the 
cause of delay. He found that they were having a 
merry time. Ide came out and reported. 

Then a demand was made that the prisoners be 
taken to Fremont's camp in the Sacramento Valley. 
Grigsby, one of the men, asked : " What are the 
orders of Fremont?" No one could answer. It 
seemed that no orders existed. A scene of wild 
confusion ensued. One swore he would not remain; 
another said, " We'll all have our throats cut." 

There was a move to quit the scheme, when Ide 
stepped up and said : " The Americans have not 
been treated right. The Californians have told us 
to leave or die. We must protect ourselves. I will 
not run, like a coward. If we do not succeed, we '11 
be nothing but robbers or horsethieves. We must 
succeed." 

The speech made the men rally around Ide, w^ho 
was chosen the leader. " Now, take the fort ! " lie 
said. It was taken without a gun being fired, and 
the post at Sonoma was captured, with eighteen 



104 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



prisoners, nine brass cannons, two hundred and fift}^ 
gUQS, and a thousand dollars' worth of property. 

Vallejo and three other prisoners were sent to 
Fremont's camp. The first thing they needed was 



General Vallejo. 



a flag. It did not take long to produce one. A 
piece of coarse white cloth, about two yards long 



THE BEAR-FLAG REPUBLIC. 105 

and one yard wide, was used. A narrow strip of 
red woolen stuff from an old flannel shirt was sewed 
around its edges. 

" There ought to be a bear on the flag," said one 
of the men ; and John Todd drew a large single 
star and a queer-shaped animal, which he called a 
grizzly bear. Below the figures were the words 

" California Republic." 

The flag was then run up on the pole where be- 
fore had floated the Mexican colors. Rules of order 
and discipline were adopted. Ide again made a 
speech to the Californians, in which he said: " We 
do not intend to rob you or deprive you of liberty- 
We want equal justice to all men." It was the 
purpose of the republic to overthrow tyranny and 
work for the rights of all. 

The first night, it was decided to issue a declara- 
tion of freedom. Ide had taught a village school 
in Ohio, and knew something of text-books and 
politics. In the silent hours of the night, from one 
o'clock until four, he wrote the new declaration. It 
was written in the glow of enthusiasm. 

The new republic was to have civil and religious 
liberty. It would foster industry, virtue, literature, 
commerce, farming, and manufacture. It asked the 
favor of Heaven and the help and wisdom and good 
sense of the people of California. 



106 



WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 



Connected with the Republic were two terrible 
incidents. Two Americans, named Cowie and 
Fowler, were lassoed, dragged, tied to trees, and cut 




The Old Fort at Sonoma. 

to pieces by their captors, the Californians. This 
took place near the present town of Healdsburg. 

The other event was the shooting of three Cali- 
fornians, who were captured by Ford. Papers were 
found in their boots which were to mislead the 



THE BEAR-FLAG REPUBLIC. 107 

Americans. The men were shot, though they threw 
away their guns and begged for life. 

Kit Carson, who has figured in tlie song and 
story of the West, was witli the Americans when 
this occurred. 

There was now war in tlie air. Castro, a leader 
of the Mexicans, with an armed force, w^as on his 
way to recapture Sonoma; and it was said that 
he would put to death every man, w^oman, and 
child, except Ide, who was to be tortured like a 
beast. 

One night the little band of Americans expected 
an attack. There was the tramp of horses. It was 
four o'clock — the darkest hour — just before the 
dawn. Every man was at his post. The cannons 
were ready. The signal was that when Ide dropped 
his gun, the men were to fire. 

Nearer and nearer came the tramp of soldiers. 
Ide, with a new light in his eye, was about to drop 
his gun. The same moment Kit Carson's voice 
rang out, '' My God, they are going to fire ! '* Then 
the shout, '"Tis Fremont! 'tis Fremont!" broke 
out in the fort, and Fremont came wildly dash- 
ing up. 

Two days after his arrival the American flag was 
raised at Montere}^, and when the news reached 
Sonoma, the Bear flag was hauled down and the 
Stars and Stripes run up. 



108 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



The Bear-flag revolution was at an end. Its flag 
is now in the Pioneer Hall, in San Francisco, where 
it tells its mute story of early days. 



BLACKBOARD WORDS. 
Cache (kttsh), lieutenant (lu-ten'ant), scheme (skem)^ 
literature (lit'er-a-ture), Vallejo (val-ya'ho), tyranny (tir'an- 
ni), Kearny (kar'ni). 




*^€?'>*^k^J^ 



^1 ii-'I 

Mount Shasta. 






THE AMERICAN FLAG IN CALIFORNIA. 



THE story about raising the flag at the Golden 
Gate can be told in a few words. Away down 
the coast at Mazatlan was a war-ship, commanded 
by John D. Sloat. The sailors heard about the 
Mexicans fighting General Taylor over on the Rio 
Grande. They wanted to do some fighting them- 
selves. 

In June, 1845, Sloat received from George Ban- 
croft, Secretary of the Navy, a secret letter. The 
orders were to blockade the Mexican ports, but first 
to sail through the Golden Gate and take possession 
of the port of San Francisco. He was told to treat 
all the people of California in the most friendly 
manner possible. 

On May 13, 1846, Bancroft 
wrote that Congress had de- 
clared war against Mexico, 
and ordered Sloat to take 
possession at once of San 
Francisco, Monterey, and as 
many other Mexican ports as 
he could. But of San Fran- 



Reference Topics. 

The American Flag. 

Commodoi'e Sloat. 

George Bancroft, 
Historian, and Sec- 
retary of the Navy, 

July 6, 1846. 

Sloat's Instruction to 
His Men. 

The Presidio. 



109 



110 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



Cisco lie said: "Take it without fail.'"' His sliip 
sailed into the Bay of Monterey on the second of 




WdiW 



The Flag Guarding the Gclden Gate. 

July. He soon learned about the Bear-flag revo- 
lution. There were two English war-ships in the 



THE AMERICAN FLAG IN CALIFORNIA. Ill 

ba}^ He was afraid of them. It was several days 
before he decided to raise the American flag at 
Monterey. 

Sloat said : " I 'd rather be blamed for doing too 
much, than doing too little." He demanded the 
surrender of the Mexican fort, and was referred 
to General Castro. Two hundred and fifty men 




then marched up, and without the firing of a gun 
pulled down the Mexican flag and hoisted in its 
place " Old Glory." This was on the 6th of July, 
1846. 

As it floated its starry folds to the breeze, the 
men gave a mighty cheer. Twenty-one guns were 
fired as a salute to the flag; and from that moment 
in law Mexican rule ceased and California became 
a part of the United States. 



112 WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 

Commodore Sloat said to the sailors : " Do not tar- 
nish the hopes of briglit success by doing any act 
that you 'd be ashamed to acknowledge before your 
God or country. Treat the people friendly, and offer 
no insult or off'ense to any one, particularly women." 

In a few days the American flag floated over 
Sutter's Fort, Sonoma, and Bodega Bay ; and in the 
country north and south it was hailed with delight. 
It was on July 9, 1846, that Commander Mont- 
gomery, with seventy meu, marched to the plaza of 
San Francisco, then called Yerba Buena, and, amid 
the cheers of the people, hauled down the Mexican 
colors and raised our country's flag. 

On the same afternoon Lieutenant Missroon, with 
a few men, went to the fort at the Presidio. He 
found it deserted. The old Spanish cannons, cast 
several centuries ago, and some small iron guns, 
spiked and useless, were exposed to the weather. 
The old adobe walls were crumbled and the old tile 
roofs tumbled in. 

" Old Glory " was hoisted on the ramparts, and 
has since kept a sleepless watch and ward over the 
Golden Gate. 

BLACKBOARD WORDS. 

Rio Grande (re'o gran'de), salute (sa-luf), Mazatlan (ma- 
sat-lan'), Yerba Buena (yer'babwa'na), Presidio (pra-se'de-o), 
acknowledge (ak-norei\ Bodega (bo-da' ga), ramparts (ram'- 
parts), commodore (kom' mo-dor), hoisted (hoist'ed), tarnish 
(tar'nish), referred (re-ferd'), revolution (rev-o-lu'shun). 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 




OLD, gold, gold ! Have you ever seen it in 
the sand or in the rocks? The first man 
to see gold in the sand of California was 
John AV. Marshall. The story of how he 
found tlie yellow pebbles will interest you. 
He had built houses, also saw-mills and grist- 
mills. Lumber was very high in California at that 
time; so he thought it would be a good scheme to 
build a saw-mill. He got John A. Sutter, a Swiss, 
who built Sutter's Fort, now owned by the Native 
Sons of the Golden West, to furnish him some 
money and food. 

Marshall started off in search of a site upon which 
to build a mill. He found 
one on the north fork of the 
American Kiver, at a place 
now known as Coloma. 

Ox-teams, carts, pack-ani- 
mals, tools, and food were on 
the grounds in a few days, 
and the mill was up on the 
15th of January, 1848. Sut- 



Reference Topics. 

The Building of the 
MUl, Jan. 15,1848. 

The Test of the Gold. 

Sutter's Ring. 

James Buchanan. 

The Gold Excite- 
ment. 

Marshall's Monu- 
ment. 



113 



114 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



ter furnished the money and Marshall the experi- 
ence. When the mill was ready to run, it was 

found that the ditch 
which was to lead the 
water to the wheel was 
not deep enough. 

Marshall opened the 
flood-gates and let a 
big swift stream rush 
through to deepen the 
ditch. The water run 
all night. In the morn- 
ing he shut the gates, 
and went down to see 
the effect. 

He was alone. The 
swift current had dug 
out the side and the bot- 
tom, and spread at the 
end of the ditch a mass 
of sand and gravel. 
While looking at it, he 
saw beneath the water 
in the ditch some lit- 
tle yellow pebbles. He 
picked one up and 
looked at it closely. Marshall knew that gold was 
bright, heavy, and easily hammered. The sub- 



Sutter, John Augustus, 

was born in Baden, February 
15, 18C3. He was the son of 
Swiss parents. He received a 
commission in the French ar- 
my, and became a captain. He 
arrived in New York, to select 
a location for a colony, in 
July, 1834, and located in Mis- 
souri. He joined a party of 
hunters and travelers, and, af- 
ter making a tour of New Mex- 
ico, he went as far as Fort 
Vancouver. He sailed for the 
Sandwich Islands, and from 
there to Sitka, then down the 
coast to San Francisco, then up 
the Sacramento River, where 
he built the stockade which 
afterwards became famous as 
Sutter's Fort. He became the 
owner of very valuable estates. 
He had a flour-mill that cost 
125,000, a saw-mill $10,000, and 
thousands of cattle, sheep, and 
hogs. 

The discovery of gold re- 
sulted in his ruin. The gold- 
hunters squatted on his lands, 
and he spent his money and 
property in fruitless litigation. 

The California Legislature 
granted him a pension of $250 
per month. In 1873, he re- 
moved to Lancaster, Pa. He 
died in Washington, D. C, 
June 17, 1880. 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 



115 



stance he had in the hollow of his hand was bright 
and heavy. He laid it down on one stone and took 
up another stone and hammered the yellow pebble 
into different shapes. 

The vision of millions did not dawn upon him. 
He did not know that that little pebble would peo- 
ple the land and make California leap into greatness. 

Marshall returned to 

the mill, and said to the 
man that was working 
at the wheel: ''I have 
found it." ''What is it?" 
asked the man. " Gold," 
said Marshall. "Oh, no," 
said the man ; '' that can 
not be." 

Marshall held out his 
yellow pebble and said : 
" 1 know it to be nothing 
else." The men about 
the mill had no doubt 



Marsliall, James "VVH- 
son, discoverer of gold, was 
born in New Jersey in 1812. 
He went to Oregon in 1844. 
He came to California in 1847, 
and entered the service of Sut- 
ter. He built a mill at Coloma, 
where he discovered gold. He 
passed twenty-eight years in 
poverty, while the State was 
being built from the gold that 
he discovered. He was never 
married, and died at Coloma, 
where he lived so long, on 
August 8, 1885. He received a 
small pension from the State, 
and the State has erected a 
monument, which stands at 
Coloma. 



read about Sir Walter Raleigh having taken home 
to England a lot of yellow clay from Virginia, and 
had little faith in the discovery. 

Marshall started for Sutter's Fort. He carried 
with him a number of nuggets in a little rag pack- 
age. Taking Sutter aside where nobody else could 
hear or see them, Marshall showed him the small 



116 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

yellow lumps and said: '' It is gold." Sutter tested 
it, read articles on gold, weighed it, and said that 
Marshall was right, and that the lumps were real 
gold. 

Marshall started back in the rain. The great 
white rain of California came down, but he went 
right on. Sutter promised to visit the mill the next 




day. Marshall was so excited that he could not 
wait his coming, and met him on the road. 

The flood-gates at the mill were turned on again, 
and Sutter picked up a lot of the yellow lumps, 
which he afterwards had made into a ring, on 
which were written these words : 

"The First Gold found in California, 
January, 1848." 

Sutter wanted the discovery kept secret, so that 
tb"^ men who were working for him on a mill near 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 



117 



the fort would not leave him and go to the gold- 
fields. A woman told the secret to a teamster, who, 




Sutter's Mill. 



in turn, told Brannan and Smith, merchants at 
Sutter's Fort. 

Great excitement was aroused at once. Men left 
their stores, trades, and professions, and crowded 
into the gold-fields. The whole country sounded 



118 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

with the sordid cry of " Gold, gold, gold ! " Houses 
were left half-finished, fields half-planted, and news- 
papers stopped because the editors and printers had 
gone to the mines. 

Thomas 0. Larkin wrote a full account of the 
gold discovery to James Buchanan, then Secretary 
of State. President Polk called attention to the 
matter in his message to Congress, December 5, 
1848. 

People came to California by the thousands — 
brave men, honest men, brainy men, in search of 
gold. There were also many true, good women. In 
1849, there came by sea about thirty-five thousand 
people, and across the plains about forty-five thou- 
sand people. 

The coming of so many people in so brief a 
space of time to a new country created conditions 
that had not been seen before and may never 
be seen again. 

They laid the foundations of California, and gave 
it the name which it will always bear as the Golden 
State of the Union. 

The little lump of gold grew to millions of dol- 
lars. John W. Marshall, the discoverer, lived to be 
an old man. The State gave him money in his 
old age, and when he died erected a monument to 
him. It stands at Coloma, in sight of the historic 
old mill. 



THE COCOA-TREE. 119 

BLACKBOARD WORDS. 

Sutter (sut'er), experience (dks-pe'ri-ensl, substance 
(sub'stans), nug-gets (nug'gets), sordid (sor'did), secretary 
(s^c're-ta-ri), historic (his-tor'ik), editors (ed'i-tera),Virginia 
(ver-jin'i-a). 



THE COCOA-TREE. 

BY CHARLES WARREN STODDARD. 

CAST on the water by a careless hand, 
Day after day the winds persuaded me; 
Onward I drifted till a coral-tree 
Stayed me among its branches, where the sand 
Gathered about me, and I slowly grew, 
Fed by the constant sun and the inconstant dew. 

The sea-birds build their nests against my root, 
And eye my slender body's horny case; 
Widowed within this solitary place. 

Into the thankless sea I cast my fruit; 

Joyless I thrive, for no man may partake 
Of all the store I bear and harvest for his sako. 

No more I hear the kisses of the morn; 

The harsh winds rob me of the life they gave; 

I watch my tattered shadow in the wave. 
And hourly droop and nod my crest forlorn, 

While all my fibers stiffen and grow numb 

Beck'ning the tardy ships, the ships that never 
come! 



WHO NAMED THE GOLDEN GATE? 

THE entrance to the Bay of San • Francisco has 
always been the delight of the poet. It has 
been pictured in song during the last fifty years as 
frequently as Mount Parnassus itself. 

The strait between the sea and the bay is pictur- 
esque. Mt. Tamalpais stands on one side, Sutro 
Heights on the other, and the wild sea dashes its 
foam against the rugged rocks. It makes a picture 
worthy the inspired fancy of the poet. 

The view of the Golden Gate is always beautiful. 
As the sun dips into the sea and shines back through 
the Golden Gate the picture is sublime. 

The strait is one mile wide at its narrowest point, 
and five miles long from sea to bay. 

John C. Fremont, in his book, *' Memoirs of My 
Life," writes: "To this gate I gave the name of 
Chrysopylse or Golden Gate, for the same reasons 
that the harbor of Byzantium (Constantinople) was 
named the Golden Horn (Chrysoceras)." 

The name was suggested to him by the beauty of 
the sunset, the gatelike entrance to the bay, and 
the value of the harbor for the commerce of the 
world. He put the name on the map that was sent 
to the Senate of the United States, in June, 1848. 

120 _ 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 

BY MADGE MORRIS WAGNER. 

DOWN by the side of the Golden Gate 
The city stands; 
Grimly, and solemn, and silent, wait 

The walls of land, 
Guarding its door as a treasure fond; 
And none may pass to the sea beyond, 
But they who trust to the king of fate 
And pass through the Golden Gate. 
The ships go out through its narrow door. 
White-sailed and laden with precious store ; 
White-sailed and laden with precious freight 
The ships come back through the Golden Gate. 
The sun comes up o'er the eastern crest, 
The sun goes down in the golden West, 
And the East is West, and the West is East, 
And the sun from his toil of day released. 
Shines back through the Golden Gate. 

Down by the side of the Golden Gate — 
The door of life, — 

121 



122 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

Are resting our cities, sea-embowered, 
White-walled, and templed, and marble-towered, - 

The end of strife. 
The ships have sailed from the silent walls, 
And over their sailing the darkness falls: 
Oh, the sea is so dark, and so deep and wide! 
Will the ships come back from the farther side? 
"Nay, but there is no farther side,'' 
A voice is whispering across the tide — 
"Time itself is a circle vast, 
Building the future out of the past; 
For the new is old, and the old is new, 
And the true is false, and the false is true, 
And the West is East, and the East is West, 
And the sun that rose o'er the eastern crest. 
Gone down in the West of his circling track, 
Forever and ever is shining back 
Through the Golden Gate of life." 

O Soul ! thy city is standing down 

By its Golden Gate; 
Over it hangs the menacing frown 

Of the king of fate. 
The sea of knowledge, so near its door, 
Is rolling away to the farther shore — 

The Orient side, — 
And the ocean is dark, and deep, and wide! 
But thy harbor, Soul ! is filled with sails, 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 123 

Freighted with messages, wonder-tales, 
From the lands that swing in the sapphire sky, 
Where the gardens of God in the ether lie. 
If only thy blinded eyes could see. 
If only thy deaf-mute heart could hear, 
The ocean of knowledge is open to thee. 

And its Golden Gate is near! 
For the dead are the living — the living the dead, — 
And out of the darkness the light is shed; 
And the East is AVest, and the West is East, 
And the sun, from his toil of day released, 
Shines back through the Golden Gate. 



1 



,\ 



<: ' -rr-'. 



THE STORY OF FREMONT. 



"TXe wore the white flower of a blameless life." 
J- J- This ideal hero of America was born in 
South Carolina during the War of 1812-13, of an 
old and honored French family. 

He seems to have been born a student and a 
scholar; for we find him, while yet a boy, teaching 
mathematics on a Government ship in Cuban waters. 
His studious and correct habits were rewarded with 
a lieutenant's commission ; and we next find him 
busy surveying and making maps of the then uncer- 
tain line between his own country and Canada, on 
the head-waters of our great rivers. 

Benton, the broad-minded 
and brave senator of Mis- 
souri, had been a colonel 
under General Jackson in 
the late war with England ; 
and it would seem he never 
quite laid down his sword, 
but kept his eye on the Brit- 
ish Lion to the north to the 
end of his life. 

124 



Reference Topics. 

Senator Benton. 
Tlie Britisli Lion. 
Fremont tlie Student, 
rremont the Explorer. 
Xit Carson, 
California's First U. S. 

Senator. 
Fremont, Candidate 

for President. 
Fremont's Denth. 



THE STORY OF FREMONT. 



125 



He was soon attracted by the quiet energy, pure 
life, and scientific skill of young Fremont, far up 
in the then unknown wilderness of our Western 
frontier, and when the still boyish-looking lieuten- 
ant was called to Wash- 
ington to report, the 
great senator took him 
to his house. 

There he met, loved, 
and married Benton's 
daughter, Jessie, one of 
the most beautiful and 
brilliant young women 
in all the world. 

But there was work, 
brave and dangerous 
work, to be done, and 
Fremont must be up and 
away. The great big 
paw of the British Lion 
was reaching down, 
down, down from Can- 
ada ; it already was laid 
on Oregon, and was reaching on down for the Bay 
of San Francisco. 

Benton stood up in his place in the Senate, time 
after time, and almost continually cried out, as he 
pointed beyond the Rocky Mountains: 



Carson, Kit ( Christo- 
plier), hunter and soldier, 
was born in Kentucky, Decem- 
ber 21, 1809. When he was fif- 
teen, he was apprenticed to a 
saddler, but two years later 
became a trapper, roaming 
over the plains between the 
Rocky Mountains and the Pa- 
cific Ocean. For sixteen years 
his rifle supplied every parti- 
cle of food on which he lived. 
In 1842, after the death of his 
Indian wife, he took his daugh- 
ter to St. Louis to be educated, 
and there joined F. emont. Kit 
Carson was Fremont's guide 
on both his exploring expedi- 
tions. He married a Spanish 
woman in New Mexico, and 
settled there in 1853. In the 
Civil War of 1861-65, he was 
loyal to the Government, and 
was made brigadier-general for 
his services. Kit Carson died 
at Fort Lyon, Colo., May 23, 
1868. 



126 



WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



" Yonder in the west lies the Orient ; yonder lies 
the path to India ! " 




General Fremont. 



And SO Fremont was sent to find the path, even 
before the honeymoon was well half over. He left 



THE STORY OF FREMONT. 127 

his young wife at St. Louis, and there procured a 
cannon of Captain Robert E. Lee, afterwards the 
great General Lee, and always the true friend of Fre- 
mont, and pushed on before the snow and ice 
melted from the mountains. 

And when it became known that he had taken 
a cannon with him, the President sent an order 
that he must not take the cannon, as his was a 
mission of peace. But Jessie opened the letter, and 
forgot to send it on for half a year! So that the 
brave explorer was not left defenseless. 

And what perils! One night near the Modoc 
lava-beds, more than a third of his force was killed 
or wounded ; and but for Kit Carson, not a man of 
Fremont's had been left alive in that hand-to-hand 
battle in the darkness. 

Fremont reports that the arrows had steel points, 
and were supplied from a British trading-post at 
the mouth of the Umpqua River, Oregon. He adds: 
" Kit Carson says they are the most beautifully war- 
like arrows I ever saw.'* The Athenseum, an English 
authority of this time, said : " We are glad that 
Lieutenant Fremont has been sent to survey Ore- 
gon; for we know it will be well done, and we will 
then know how much blood and treasure to spend 
to secure that wild region." 

Fremont led three of these daring experiences, 
one after the other, in ensuing years. He named 



128 



WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 



the Golden Gate long before gold was found, fought 
through the Mexican War, from Mount Shasta to 




Kit Carson. 



Los Angeles, and then was made the first United 
States Senator from California. 



THE STORY OF FREMONT. 



129 



Never had there been such an active life in all 
history, perhaps; certainly never such a useful, and 
pure, and clean life. It is worth noticing here that 
Fremont, like Washington and Lincoln, was always 




Fremont's Headquarters at Los Angeles- 



a student, a student from his cradle to his grave. 
While others laughed or told stories of adventure 
around the camp or cabin fires, Fremont was in his 
tent or under a tree with his books. He knew all 
science, every tree or plant, and could talk to his 



130 AVESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

guides and soldiers, made up of all sorts of people, 
in almost any tongue. 

Fremont, from first to last, was the hero of heroes, 
and the ideal of the young, and pure, and good, 
from one end of the land to the other. If only the 
pure and good, or if only the youths could have 
voted for him in 1856, when he ran for President, 
he would have carried every State in the Union. 

In the fearful Civil War he was the most con- 
spicuous figure until he issued his emancipation 
proclamation, thus anticipating President Lincoln. 
Envy and pitiful little jealousies that too often pur- 
sue great souls, were clamoring for his retirement 
from the field of action. Yet he could not be idle for 
a day. 

He had planned the first railroad to California, 
and now would have perfected it, but for the envi- 
ous and rich and powerful men who again thwarted 
him. 

In fact Fremont, if we except his fortunate marri- 
age, was never the favorite of fortune. He was not 
cunning; he never cared for money; and, let it be 
proudly said, with all his high offices and great 
opportunities, he died poor. 

Of his final hours (1890) let his sweet, gentle 
Jessie speak. She says: 

" Of the many kindnesses unknown Fate reserved 
for Fremont, the kindest was the last. He had just 



THE STORY OF FREMONT. 131 

succeeded in a most cherished wish. Peace and rest 
were again secured, when he was attacked in New 
York by what he thought was a passing summer 
illness. His physician recognized danger, and 
quickly the cessation of pain showed a fatal condi- 
tion. 

"Night and day his loving son watched over him, 
and with their long-time friend and physician, kept 
unbroken his happy composure. Rousing from a 
prolonged, deep sleep the General said : 'If I con- 
tinue so comfortable I can finish my writing next 
week and go home.' Seeing the eyes closing again, 
his physician said, to test the mind : 

"'Home? Where do you call home, General?' 
"One last clear look, a pleased smile: 'California, 
of course.' " 

" Hero, scholar, cavalier, 

Bayard of thy brave new land, 
Poppies for thy bed and bier. 
Dreamful poppies foot and hand. 

•' Poppies garmented in gold ; 
Poppies of the land you won — 
Love and gratitude untold- 
Poppies— peace— the setting sun ! " 



BLACKBOARB WORDS, 

Ideal (i-de'al), government (guv'ern-ment), frontier 
(fron'ter), Orient (o'ri-ent), Los Angeles (16s an'-ge-les), Mo- 
doc (mo'dok), Lincoln (link'un), emancipation (e-man-ci- 
pa-tion), recognized (rek'og-nizd), clamoring (klam'er-ing). 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION, 



NOW, I'm going to tell you a story that's not like 
any of the others. It has no hero. Our 
country had a big war with Mexico, and we won. 
California and much other laud became part of the 
United States. 

The people of California soon wanted to form a 
State. A convention met at Monterey, September 
1, 1849. A constitution was adopted, officers elected, 
and laws passed before California was admitted into 
the Union. The first legislature met at San Jose. 
It passed many laws and gave the names to the 
counties of the State. Fre- 
mont and Gwin were elected 
United States Senators. They 
went to Washington and 
asked that California be ad- 
mitted to the Union. The 
President sent a special mes- 
sage to Congress about Cal- 
ifornia. 

The giants of the Senate — 
Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Sew- 



Reference Topics. 

Convention at Mon- 
terey. 

The First U. S. Sena- 
tors. 

AVebster's Speech. 

Seward's Speech. 

Calhoun. 

September 9, 1850. 

Why the Admission 
was Opposed. 



132 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION. 133 

ard, and Jefferson Davis — men whom you will 
read about in the history of your country, — were 
interested in California. Calhoun and Davis did not 
want California admitted because of the Slavery 
Question. 

Almost the last speech Calhoun made was against 
California. He thought it would bring trouble be- 
tween the North and the South. He tried to talk 
again, but was too weak, and another Senator read 
his speech. It was a great speech in all the arts that 
go to make up a fine oration. 

Daniel Webster said : " I believe in the Spartan 
maxim — ^ Improve, adorn what you have; seek no 
further.' I do not fear slavery in California, be- 
cause the soil, climate, and everything connected 
with the region is opposed to slave labor. There 
has been talk of secession, peaceable secession. You 
might as well talk of a planet withdrawing from 
the solar system without a convulsion, as to talk 
about peaceable secession. 

"The Union, which has been so hard to form, 
has linked together the destinies of all parts of the 
country, and has made a great nation, because it is 
a united nation, with a common name, and a 
common flag, and a common patriotism. It has 
conferred upon the South no less thaiD upon the 
North great blessings. 

"There may be violence; there may be revolu- 



134 WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 

tion; the great dead may be disturbed in their 
graves. 

"All this is possible, but not peaceable secession. 
The Union is one; it is a complete whole. It is 
bounded, like the buckler of Achilles, on either side 
by the ocean." 

William H. Seward, another name that you will 
hear more about in history, said: " California ought 
to be admitted at once ; California comes from that 
clime where the West dies away into the rising 
East; California, which bounds the empire and the 
continent; California, the youthful queen of the 
Pacific, in robes of freedom inlaid with gold, is 
doubly welcome! 

" The stars and stripes should wave over its ports, 
or it will raise aloft a banner for itself. It would be 
no mean ambition if it became necessary for its own 
protection to found an independent nation on the 
Pacific. 

*'It is farther away than the old colonies from 
England; it is out of the reach of railroads; the 
prairies, the mountains, and the desert, an isthmus 
ruled by foreign powers, and a cape of storms are 
between it and the armies of the Union." 

The delegates from California prepared a new ad- 
dress in which they related in detail the claims of 
California to be admitted into the Union. 

It seems strange now, when there is no longer 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION. 135 

any division between North and South, that Con- 
gress sliould hesitate to receive as part of the Union 
the Golden Land of the West. 

The bill making California a State passed the 
Senate, August 13, 1850. There were thirty-four 
Senators who voted for it, and eight against it. On 
September 7th, the bill was up for passage iii the 
House. There were several attempts to defeat it, 
but it was passed by one hundred and fift3^-four 
ayes against fifty-six noes. 

The President, Millard Fillmore, signed the bill 
September 9, 1850. California was the thirty-first 
State — the thirty-first star in the flag, in order of 
date, — but the peer in many respects of many States 
in the Union. 

It has contributed more than its share to the ma- 
terial and intellectual wealth of the world. Its 
treasures of gold, of soil, of climate; the patriotism 
of its citizens; the excellence of its schools, churches, 
and libraries; its spirit of progress, its color and 
art atmosphere, make California the ideal Golden 
State. 

BLACKBOARD WORDS. 
San Jose (sjinho-sa'), 3Ionterey (nion-ta-ra'), convention 
(kon-ven'shun), constitution (kon'sti-tu'shun), secession 
(se-sesh'un), successor (stik-ses'ser), Calho^m (kal-hoon'), 
libraries (li'bra-ries), ambition (ain-bish'nn), atmosphere 
(at'mos-ier), solar (so'ler), Achilles (a-kil'lez), delegates 
(dere-gats). 





THE STORY OF A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 

BATTLE — a real battle with the In- 
dians! It took place at Castle Crags, 

"" in 1855. And it is said to be the last 
battle of record where the Indians 
fonght with arrows only. 

It occurred near Mount Shasta, 
which the poet has described as — 

" Lone as God, white as a winter moon." 

" Mountain Joe," a picturesque figure of pioneer 
days, was one of the men who took an active part 
in the battle. . 

The entire country in the vicinity of Shasta was 
a sea of tents. The soil had been turned upside 
down by the miners. The 
river was red with red dirt. 
The fishes died. This was in 
1855, when the gold excite- 
ment was great. 

The Indians had deter- 
mined to drive out the 
whites. It led to a general 
war, which resulted in the 



Reference Topics. 

Mount Sliasta. 
Castle Crags. 
The Shasta Indians. 
Arrows. 
Joaquin Miller. 
The Battle. 
Mountaian Joe. 
Indians of To-day. 



STORY OF A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 137 

extinction of many tribes in Oregon and some 
in California. 

R. P. Gibson, who had married an Indian chiefs 
daughter, was the leader against the Shasta Indians, 
who were in revolt; and he was aided by some 
friendly Indians. 

Joaquin Miller, who was then known as "Moun- 
tain Joe's Boy," fought and was wounded in the 
battle of Castle Crags. He tells the story of the 
battle as follows: 

"We rested by a deep, dark lake which the In- 
dians call the abode of their devil, Ku-ku-pa-rick, 
and they refused to approach its grassy, wooded 
shores. 

" Here Gibson, leaving his Indians for the first 
time, passed from man to man as they crouched 
under the trees. He told them that there was to 
be a fight, and a fight to a finish; that the hostiles 
were not an hour distant, and that no one could 
turn back and live; for if v;e did not kill them they 
would kill us. He told us that they had come 
down out of the Castle to kill deer, and so their 
arrows were not poisoned, and that we could 
swim. 

" He broke us up in parties, putting good and 
bad together, with Indians at the head of each. 
He told me to go with Joe, whom he sent to make 
a show of attack on the side next to Soda Springs. 



138 WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 

When near the hostiles Joe put me behind a tree 
on the edge of a small open place, and told me to 
stay there. Then he went on creeping through the 
dense brush, to place the other men. 

" I put some bullets into my mouth so as to have 
them hand}^ but I do not know what I did with 
them. I fired a few shots after Joe opened the fight, 
but hit only brush and rocks, I reckon. And now 
pandemonium! Indians do not often yell in battle; 
but on both sides of us now, the yelling was simply 
fiendish. They yelled from the top of the Castle 
to the bottom, it seemed to me. 

" We had taken the enemy entirely unawares, — 
asleep most of them, after the morning's chase, — 
and our first shots brought down their dozing sen- 
tinels on the rocks. Finally there was some parley- 
ing, and the yelling, the whiz of arrows, and the 
crack of rifles stopped. Then some Indian women 
came out and across the little gorge to Joe and his 
men, and I, thinking they had all surrendered, 
walked out into the opening. 

" Gibson called from the rocks ahead of me and 
to my right, ' Boys, the fight now begins, and we 've 
got to git them or they git us. Come on! Who 
will go with me?' I answered that I would go; for 
it was all a picnic so far as I had yet seen, and I 
ran around to him. But there was blood on his 
hands and blood on his face, blood on all of his 



STORY OF A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 139 

Indians, and most of the white men were blood}^ 
and hot. 

" The enemy used arrows entirely. They could 
tell where we were, but we knew where they were 
only when we felt their sting. Gibson led, or rather 




/ 



Battle Rock. 



crept, hastily on, his head below the chaparral. No 
one dared speak. But when we got in position, 
right in the thick of it, our men opencvi. Then the 
arrows, then the yelling, as never before! 

'' The women and children prisoners down with 



140 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

Joe set up the death-song, as if it was not already 
dismal enough. The savages bantered us and bul- 
lied us, saying we were all going to be killed before 
the sun went down ; that we were already covered 
with blood, and that they had not lost a man. I 
had not yet fired a shot since joining Gibson, and, 
rising up to look for a target, he told an Indian to 
' Pull the fool down by the hair/ which he prompt- 
ly did. 

*' The battle had lasted for hours. The men were 
choking, and the sun was near going down. We 
must kill or be killed, and that soon. We must do 
our work before dark. The white man has little 
show with an Indian in battle at night. 

" Gibson gathered all who could or would go, 
and took still another place by storm. Then Lane 
fell, mortally wounded by an arrow in the eye. I 
saw Gibson's gun fall from his hand from the very 
deluge of arrows; then all was blank, and I knew 
no more of that battle. 

" The fight was over when I came to my senses, 
and it was dark. A young man by the name of 
Jameson was trying to drag me through the brush ; 
and it has always seemed to me that a good many 
people walked over me and trod on me. I could 
hear, but could not see. 

" An arrow had struck the left side of my face, 
knocked out two teeth, and had forced its point 



STORY OF A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 141 

through at the back of my neck. I could hear, 
and I knew the voices of Gibson and Joe. They 
cut off the point of the arrow and pulled it out of 
my face by the feather end. Then I could see. I 
suffered no pain, but was benumbed and cold as we 
lay under the pines. Joe held my head all night, 
expecting that I would die. 

" Gibson had the squaw prisoners carry his 
wounded down to the pack-trail on the banks of 
the Sacramento. They laid us down under some 
pines and pretty juniper-trees on the west side of 
the swift, sweet river. And how tender and how 
kind these heroic men were! I was as a brother 
to them now, — their boy hero. Only the day be- 
fore I had been merely ' Mountain Joe's Boy.' 

" Gibson's loss in killed was considerable for so 
small a number engaged, — several Indians, though 
only one white man. Indians never give their 
loss, because of encouragement to the enemy; and 
Mountain Joe and Gibson, for a like reason, always 
kept their list of killed and wounded as low as pos- 
sible, and spoke of the battle of Castle Crags as a 
trifling affair. Yet General Crook, in his letter to 
Captain Gibson, marveled that he ever got out with 
a single man. 

" I had promised to mark the grave of Ike Hare 
with a fragment of granite from Castle Crags, so 
that those who pass up and down the pleasant 



142 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

walks around Castle Crags Tavern might look with 
respect on the resting-place of a brave man and an 
honest legislator of two States. But my little tab- 
let would seem so pitiful in the mighty presence of 
Mount Shasta ! 

"And it is Crook's monument, and Dribelbies', 
and Mountain Joe's. The finger of the Infinite 
traces and retraces, in storm or sun, the story and 
the glory of their unselfish valor here while the 
world endures. It is enough. 

" There are those who care to read of savage inci- 
dents in these border battles. But such things 
should be left to obscurity, and I shall set down but 
two here. 

" The first of these was the treatment of the dead 
Modoc chief, Docas Dalla, by the chief of our Indian 
allies. When the body was dragged before him, 
where he stood in the heat and rage of battle di- 
recting his men, he threw off his robe, and, nearly 
naked, leaped on the naked body (for it had al- 
ready been stripped and scalped), and there danced 
and yelled as no fiend of the infernal regions could 
have danced and yelled. 

" He called his fallen foe by name, and mocked 
and laughed, and leaped up and down on the dead 
till the body was slipjDcry with the blood which 
gushed from its wounds, and he could no longer 
keep his footing. Yet, after all, it was only the old 



STORY OF A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 143 

Greek and Trojan rage, — the story of Homer in 
another form of expression ; and Castle Crags was 
Troy above the clouds. 

" One more incident, as described to me by the 
son of this same furious cliief, on revisiting the bat- 




tle-ground. This son of the chief was but a lad at 
the time, and so was left by his father with two 
Indians and a few white men wlio were too lame 
and worn-out to rush into the fight, in charge of the 
blankets, supplies, and so forth. They were left 
in the little depression, or dimple, in the saddle of 



144 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

the mountain, a few hundred feet above and to the 
south of Crooks (or Castle) Lake, and in the Modoc 
pass or trail. 

" AVhen Gibson forced the fighting, as night came 
on, the hostiles separated, some going down the 
gorge as if to reach their stores of arrows in the 
caves of Battle Kock (for their supply must have 
been well-nigh spent by this time), while others 
stole off up the old Modoc trail that winds up above 
and around the lake, and in which the son of the 
chief and other Indians, as well as some whites, lay 
concealed. 

" And here in this dimple, on the great granite 
backbone that heaves above and about the lake, — 
here above the clouds, amid drifts, and banks, and 
avalanches of everlasting snow, the wounded fugi- 
tives, with empty quivers, and leaving a red path 
as they crawled or crept on and up over the banks 
and drifts of snow, were met by their mortal ene- 
mies face to face. 

" If you stand here facing Battle Rock to the 
south, and with your back to the lake, which lies 
only a few hundred feet to the rear, though far 
below, you will see how impossible it was for the 
wounded savages to escape down the rugged crags 
to the left, or up and over the crescent of snow to 
the right. They could not turnback; they could 
not turn to the left, nor to the right; so they kept on. 



STORY OF A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 145 

" Two of them got through and over the ridge 
and onto the steep slope of snow, and slid down 
almost to the lake, where they lay for a few moments 
concealed in the tall grass. But their relentless red 
enemies followed their crimson trail, found and 
tomahawked and scalped them where they lay, and 
threw their bodies into the lake. 

" Like all decisive battles with swift-footed sav- 
ages, this one covered a large field. The fighting, 
or at least the dead, and the blood on the rocks and 
snow, reached from the south shore of Crook's Lake 
to the north base of Battle Rock. The cross cut in 
the white spruce-tree, by the hand that writes this, 
and not far from the northernmost bank of the lake, 
may be set down as the outer edge of the battle- 
ground in that direction. 

" You w411 find small stone cairns set up here and 
there on heads of granite rocks that break above the 
snow. It is the custom for an Indian when pass- 
ing the scene of some great disaster, especially if 
alone, to place in a conspicuous position a stone by 
the way, in memory of his dead. He never rears 
his monument at one time, as does the white 
man. He places but one stone, often a very 
small one, an*d leaves the rest to time and to other 
hands. 

"I will add Captain Gibson's story of the fight, 
from his own trembling hand: 



146 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

"Gibson's Switch, Sacramento River, July 25, 1893. 

^' In the year 1855, there being a great rush of 
miners here, the Sacramento River and other streams 
became muddy, and thereby obstructing the run of 
fish. The Indians became very indignant on ac- 
count of its stopping the run of fish, which was 
their principal living. They commenced making 
preparations for hostilities by getting into strong- 
holds, the principal one being the Castle Crags. 
Captain Crook came to the east fork of the Trinity 
about twelve miles from here with a company of 
regulars, and went out to Castle Crags with a view 
to break up the band, but failed to engage them. 

" I sent him a letter telling him the way I was 
situated, so that by raising some men I could de- 
stroy them. His answer was to do so, which I did. 
We had a severe fight, — some men killed and a 
number wounded. We also found that the arrows 
were Modoc arrows; also amongst the dead two 
Modoc chiefs. I sent word of the battle to Captain 
Crook, and he gave it his hearty approval, and 
thanked me. 

" We had and have every reason to believe that 
the Indians intended to consolidate and make a 
general outbreak, as the Modocs did soon after do; 
and there is no doubt but they would have done 
it had it not been for that battle as aforesaid at 
Castle Crags. Captain Crook was afterward the 
famous Indian fighter, General Crook. I was en- 
abled to reach these Indians, which Crook could 
not, through my father-in-law, Wielputus, the chief 
of the Shastas. We took twenty-nine of his men 
with us. R. P. Gibson." 



SAN FRANCISCO. 

(from the sea.) 
BY BRET HARTE. 



s 



ERENE, indifferent of Fate, 
Thou sittest at the Western Gate; 



Upon thy height, so lately won, 
Still slant the banners of the sun; 

Thou seest the white seas strike their tents, 
Warder of two Continents! 

And, scornful of the peace that flies 
Thy angry winds and sullen skies, 

Thou drawest all things, small or great. 
To thee, beside the Western Gate. 



lion's whelp, that hidest fast 

In jungle growth of spire and mafet! 

1 know thy cunning and thy greed, 
Thy hard high lust and willful deed, 

147 



148 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

And all thy glory loves to tell 
Of specious gifts material. 

Drop down, Fleecy Fog, and hide 
Her skeptic sneer and all her pride! 

Wrap her, Fog, in gown and hood 
Of her Franciscan Brotherhood. 

Hide me her faults, her sin and blame; 
With thy gray mantle cloak her shame! 

So shall she cowled, sit and pray 
Till morning bears her sins away. 

Then rise, Fleecy Fog, and raise 
The glory of her coming days; 

Be as the cloud that flecks the seas 
Above her smoky argosies; 

When forms familiar shall give place 
To stranger speech and newer face; 

When all her throes and anxious fears 
Lie hushed in the repose of years; 

When Art shall raise and Culture lift 
The sensual joys and meaner thrift, 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



149 



And all fulfilled the vision we 

Who watch and wait shall never see. 

Who in the morning of her race, 
Toiled fair or meanly in our place, 

But, yielding to the common lot, 
Lie unrecorded and forgot. 




OLD CALIFORNIANS. 



'Tis a land so far that you wonder whether 
E'en God would know it should you fall down dead ; 

'T is a land so fair through the wilds and weather, 
That the sun falls weary and flushed and red, — 

That the sea and the sky seem coming together. 
Seem closing together as a book that is read : 

Oh ! the nude, weird West, where an unnamed river 
Rolls restless in bed of bright silver and gold ; 

Where white flashing mountains flow rivers of silver 
As a rock of the desert flowed fountains of old ; 

By a dark-wooded river that calls to the dawn. 
And makes mouths at the sea with his dolorous swan 

Oh ! the land of the wonderful sun and weather, 
With green under foot and with gold over head. 

Where the sun takes flame, and you wonder whether 
'T is an isle of fire in his foamy bed ; 

Where the ends of the earth they are welding together 
In rough-hewn fashion, in a forge-flame red. 



C Commend me to the old Californian. I should 
^ say that an old gold-hunter of '49, standing 
on a peak of the Sierras with the world behind 
him, storm-blown and beaten, yet with hands and 
heart open, unsullied by any sin of the populous 
world below, stands not far from God. 

150 



OLD CALIFORNIANS. 151 

They climb'd the rock-built breasts of earth, 

The Titan-fronted, billowy steeps 

That cradled Time. . . . Where Freedom keeps 

Her flag of white-blown stars iinfurl'd. 

They turn'd about, they saw the birth 

Of sudden dawn upon the world : 

Again they gazed; they saw the face 

Of God, and named it boundless space. 

Ah, there have been clouds in the old Califor- 
nian's life; storms and wrecks, and years of clouds! 
And even still there are more than enough in the 
West to make the sunset glorious. But the world 
is away off to him. He has memories — a lock of 
hair in his hand, a little song in liis heart. He 
lives alone in the past. Life, love — all with him 
are over; but he does not complain. May he strike 
it yet in the shaft he is still sinking, in the great 
tunnel he is still boring into the mountains, and go 
back to his waiting wife and babes. Alas! his babes 
are full-grown; he will never see his babies any more. 

It is to be allowed that these men were not at all 
careful of the laws, either ancient or modern, eccle- 
siastical or lay. They would curse. They w^ould 
fight like dogs — aye, like Christians — in battle. But 
there was more solid honor among them than the 
world will ever see again in any body of men, I fear, 
till it approaches the millennium. 

Do you know where the real old Californian is — 
the giant, the world-builder? 



152 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

He is sitting by the trail high up on the moun- 
tain. His eyes are dim, and his head is white. His 
hands are not strong. His pick and shovel are at 
his side. His feet are weary and sore. He is still 
prospecting. Pretty soon he will sink his last pros- 
pect hole in the Sierra. 

Some younger men will come along, and lengthen 
it out a little, and lay him in his grave. The old 
miner will have passed on to prospect the outcrop- 
pings that star the floors of heaven. 

He is not numerous now; but I saw him last 
summer high up on the head-waters of the Sacra- 
mento. His face is set forever away from that civ- 
ilization which has passed him by. He is called a 
tramp now. And the new, nice people who have 
slid over the plains in a palace car and settled down 
there, set dogs on him sometimes when he comes 
that way. 

I charge you, treat the old Californian well wher- 
ever you find him. He has seen more, sufi^ered 
more, practiced more self-denial than can now fall 
to the lot of any man. 

I never see one of these old prospectors without 
thinking of Ulysses, and wondering if any Penelope 
still weaves and unweaves, and waits the end of his 
wanderings. Will any old blind dog stagger forth 
at the sound of his voice, lick his hand, and fall 
down at his feet? 



OLD CALIFORNIANS. 153 

No, he will never return. He has not heard from 
home for twenty years. 

And though he may die there in the pines on the 
might}^ mountain, while still feebly searching for 
the golden fleece, do not forget that his life is an epic, 
noble as any handed down from out the dusty eld. 
I implore you, treat him kindly. Someday a fitting 
poet will come, and then he will take his place 
among the heroes and the gods. 

But there is another old Californian — a wearier 
man — the successful one. He, too, is getting gra}'. 
But he is a power in the land. He is a prince in 
fact and in act. What strange fate was it that 
threw dust in the eyes of that old Californian, sit- 
ting by the trail high up on the mountain, and 
blinded him so that he could not see the gold just 
within his grasp a quarter of a century ago ? And 
what good fairy was it that led this other old Cali- 
fornian, now the banker, the railroad king, or sena- 
tor, to where the mountain gnomes had hidden 
their gold? 

What accidental beggars and princes we have in 
the world to-day ! But whether beggar or prince, 
the old Californian stands a head and shoulders 
taller than his fellows wherever you may find him. 
This is a solid, granite truth. 

Our dead are the mighty majority of old Califor- 
nians! No one would guess how numerous they 



154 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

are. California was one vast battle-field. The 
knights of the nineteenth century lie buried in her 
bosom; while here and there, over the mountain- 
tops, totters a lone survivor, still prospecting. 

The Crusades knew not braver knight 
Than these brave men before her walls ; 

The noblest in the old-time fight 
Matched not the humblest here that falls. 

And never were there worn such scars 

As these won in these nobler wars. 

These bloodless wars, that bring not pain 

These priceless victories of Peace, 
"Where Pride is slain, where Self is slain. 

Where Patience hath her victories ; 
"Where, when at last the gates are down. 
You have not burned, but built, a town. 




MY NEW YEARNS GUESTS. 

BY ROLLIN M. DAGGETT. 

Scene : A chamber in Virginia City ; one of the pictures on 
the walls being the reduced photographs of over five hundred 
California Pioneers of 1849. 

Time: Midnight, December, 31,1881. 

THE winds come cold from the southward, with 
incense of fir and pine, 
And the flying clouds grow darker, as they halt 

and fall in line; 
The valleys that reach the deserts, the mountains 

that greet the clouds. 
Lie bare in the arms of Winter, which the gather- 
ing Night enshrouds; 

The leafless sage on the hillside, the willows low 

down the stream, 
And the sentry rocks above us have faded all as a 

dream ; 
And the fall of the stamp grows fainter, the voices 

of night sing low, 
And freed from labor, the miner toils through the 

drifting snow. 

155 



156 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

As I sit alone in my chamber, this last of the dying 
year, 

Dim shades of the past surround me, and faint 
through the storm I hear 

Old tales of the castles builded under shelving rock 
and pine. 

Of the bearded men and stalwart, I greeted in Forty- 
nine; 

The giants with hopes audacious, the giants with 

iron limb. 
The giants who journeyed westward, when the trails 

were new and dim; 
The giants who felled the forests, made pathways 

over the snows. 
And planted the vine and fig-tree where the man- 

zanita grows; 

Who swept down the mountain gorges, and painted 
the endless night 

With their cabins rudely fashioned, and their camp- 
fires' ruddy light; 

Who builded great towns and cities, who swung 
back the Golden Gate, 

And hewed from a mighty ashlar the form of a 
sovereign State; 

Who came like a flood of waters to a thirsty desert 
plain. 



157 

And where there had been no reapers grew valleys 
of golden grain. 

No wonder that this strange music sweeps in from 

the silent past, 
And comes with the storm this evening, and blends 

into strains with the blast; 
Nor wonder that through the darkness should enter 

a spectral throng, 
And gather around my table with the old-time 

smile and song! 

For there on the wall before me, in a frame of gilt 
and brown, 

With a chain of years suspended, old faces are look- 
ing down; 

Five hundred all grouped together — five hundred 
old Pioneers; — 

Now list, as I raise the taper and trace the steps of 
the years. 

Behold this face near the center; — we met ere his 

locks were gray, 
His purse, like his heart, was open; he struggles for 

bread to-day. 
To this one the fates were cruel; but he bore his 

burden well. 
And the willow bends in sorrow by the wayside 

where he fell. 



158 WESTERN SERIES OF REABJ:RS. 

Great losses and grief crazed this one; great riches 

turned this one's head; 
And a faithless wife wrecked this one — he lives, but 

were better dead. 
Now closer the light on this face; — 't was wrinkled 

when we were young; 
His touch drew our footsteps AVestward; his name 

is on every tongue. 
Rich was he in lands and kindness; but the human 

deluge came, 
And left him at last with nothing but death and a 

deathless fame. 

T was a kindly hand that grouped them, these 

faces of other years; 
The rich and the poor together — the hopes, and 

the smiles, and tears 
Of some of the fearless hundreds, who went, like 

the knights of old. 
The banner of empire bearing, to the land of blue 

and gold. 

For years have I watched these shadows, as others 
I know have done; 

As Death touched their lips with silence, I have 
draped them one by one, 

Till, seen where the dark-plumed angel has min- 
gled here and there, 



159 

The brows I have flecked with sable cloud the liv- 
ing everywhere. 

Darker, and darker, and darker these shadows will 

yearly grow, 
As changing the seasons bring us the bud and the 

falling snow; 
And soon — let me not invoke it ! — the final prayer 

will be said, 
And strangers will write the record, " The last of 

the group is dead." 

And then — but why stand here gazing? A gath- 
ering storm in my eyes 

Is mocking the weeping tempest that billows the 
midnight skies; 

And stranger still, — is it fancy? — are my senses 
dazed and weak? — 

The shadowy lips are moving as if they would ope 
and speak ! 

And I seem to hear low whispers, and catch the 

echo of strains 
That rose from the golden gulches and followed the 

moving trains; 
The scent of the sage and desert, the path on the 

rocky height. 
The shallow graves by the roadside, — all, all have 

come back to-night! 



160 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

And the mildewed years, like stubble, I trample 

under my feet, 
And drink again at the fountain, when the wane of 

life was sweet; 
And I stand once more exalted, where the white 

pine frets the skies, 
And dream in the winding caiion, where early the 

twilight dies. 

Now the eyes look down in sadness, the pulse of the 

year beats low, 
The storm has been awed to silence; the muffled 

hands of the snow, 
Like the noiseless feet of mourners, are spreading 

a pallid sheet 
O'er the heart of dead December, and glazing the 

shroud w4th sleet. 

Hark! the bells are chiming midnight; the storm 

bends its listening ear. 
While the moon looks through the cloud-rifts and 

blesses the new-born 3^ear. 
Bar closely the curtained windows, shut the light 

from every pane, 
While, free from the worldly intrusion, and curious 

eyes profane, 
I take from its leathern casket a dented old cup of 

tin. 



MY NEW YEAR 8 GUESTS. 



161 



More precious to me than silver, and blessing the 

draught within, 
I drink alone and in silence to the " Builders of 

the West " — 
" Long life to the hearts still beating, and peace to 

the hearts at rest!" 





\ % ^ -'-^ 



APPEXDIX. 



WHO NAMED CALIFORNIA? 

ALiFORNiA is mentioned for the first time, 
so far as any one has been able to dis- 
cover, in an old Spanish romance, 
printed in 1510. The name appears in 
the following passages: 

" Know that, on the right hand of the 
Indies, very near to the Terrestrial Para- 
dise, there is an island called California, 
which was peopled with black women, 
without any men among them, because 
they were accustomed to live after the 
fashion of Amazons. 

" In this island are many griffins, on 
account of the great savageness of the 
country and the immense quantity of 
wild game found there. 

"Now, in the time that those great 
men of the Pagus sailed (against Constantinople), 
with those great fleets of which I have told you, 
there reigned in this land of California a queen, 
large of body, very beautiful, in the prime of her 
years," etc. 

J 65 




166 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

The name California next appears in the memoirs 
of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who 
served with Cortez in the conquest of Mexico. He 
WTites that ''Cortez again set sail from Santa Cruz, 
and discovered the coast of California." 

"The name California was gradually used to 
designate the region from the Gulf of California to 
the myt^iical 'Straits of Anian ' (which w^ere very 
probably Bering Straits)." 

"The country was called New Albion by Sir 
Francis Drake in 1579." 

"In recent times the region north of San Diego 
was called Alta California, and that to the south, 
Bnja California." 

The name California, derived from the two Span- 
ish w^ords, calieiite fornalla, — i. e. '' hot furnace," — 
was given by Cortez, in the year 1535, to the penin- 
sula now known as Old (or Lower) California, of 
w^hich he was the discoverer, on account of its hot 
climate. 



A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 
(for the use of teachers.) 

The following books were consulted by the author in the 
preparation of the " Pacific History Stories," and are valu- 
able for reading or special study :— 

Bancroft, H. H History of California. 

" " . . . . History of the Central American 

States. 

Blackmar, F. W Spanish Itistitutions of the North- 
west. 

Davidson, G Early Voyages of Discovery on 

the Northwest Coast of America. 

Fremont, J C The Story of My Life. 

Frost, J History of California. 

Harte, Bret Poems. 

Hittell, J. S History of San Francisco. 

HiTTELL, T. H History of California. 2 vols. 

LuMMis, C. F Spanish Pioneers. 

McGlashan, C. F. . . . History of the Donner Party. 

Miller, Joaquin .... Unwritten History. 

Palou, F Life of Junipero Serra. 

Thomas, P. J Historical Outlines— Founding the 

Missions. 

167 



168 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 

ToAvr.E, G. M Drake. 

" " Magellan. 

TuTHiLL, F History of California. 

Venegas, M Natural and Civil History of Cal- 
ifornia. 

Wagner, Madge Morris . Poems. 

WiNSOR, J Narrative and Critical History of 

America. 

Blackwood's Magazine . Lives of Balboa and Pizarro. Vol. 

32, p. 359. 

Golden Era Magazine. . 

Harper's Magazine . . Balboa. Vol. 3, p. 167; vol. 18, 

p. 467. 

Lewis & Clark Journals. 

Overland Monthly. 



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